When in Doubt, Save
by Yirriru
Summary: Lloyd is excited about the journey of regeneration. He goes off with Colette and Genis to Martel Temple, where they meet desians who easily defeats them. Lloyd is flung off the cliff to fall to his death, Colette is skewered by the lead desian, and Genis... it's better off not said. Upon impact, Lloyd feels his life sucked away and the end of his journey... or so he thought.
1. Chapter 1: Death by Cliff

Hello~ New story. I've been pondering a bit if... well... what would happen if Lloyd had access to the menu screen and game mechanics stuff? The first chapter is a bit serious but I have stuff planned out for the future (ish). Enjoy!

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**When in Doubt, Save.**

Chapter One: Death by Cliff

A boy with messy, spiky brown hair yawns as he sits up his bed that is a bit of a mess, most likely from rolling about. Rubbing his eyes, he yawns once more before plopping back down. As his eyes drooped down, he was suddenly jolted awake by unsuspected coldness.

"AAAAAAGH!" The teen shouts, leaping out of bed. Water drips off of him and onto the various things he left on the floor, including the homework he copied from Genis yesterday afternoon. Shoot, the professor wouldn't be too happy about that now would she? He glances at the culprit of his awakening to see a short man with a gruff appearance. The said man shook his head sadly, before giving the teen a stern look.

"Lloyd, yur going ta' be late. Again." The dwarf said before heading back downstairs. "I already cooked ya' some breakfast. Better be quick."

"A-a-alright d-dad, t-thanks!" The boy responded, shivering. Why did his dad have to use FREEZING COLD water? He recalled feeling pieces of ice smack into his face as he rolled in his soft, warm, cozy bed, which was now a soaking mess. He could only hope that it wouldn't smell when he came back after school. He quickly pulled of his black tank top (which was soaking wet) and replaced it with a fresh one. Afterwards, he pulled on his trademark red jacket and gloves, followed by the overalls. His hair was plaster to his head, which he then noticed that it was getting a bit long. He needed to ask Dirk to cut his hair later this week. As he pulled up his bag, he quickly stuffed a few supplies in it (AKA a pencil and a single sheet of paper). Seeing that class today was probably going to be as boring as yesterday, he considered bringing his pillow, though the professor would immediately chuck chalk at his forehead like last time. Sighing, he lackadaisically went down stairs to pick up his breakfast, which was toast and some eggs. Giving his dad a simple 'thanks', he goes outside the house and calls out,"Noishe!"

A large dog-like creature barks and comes out from its little stable. Giving the dog a grin, he climbs up. "Let's go!" With that, the creature howls, soon breaking into a dash. Although the ride was a little bumpy (mainly due to Noishe's occasional fright by monsters in the forest), it wasn't extreme. Lloyd chewed on his toast, which was cold now, and thought about school. Colette and Genis were most likely there inside the building chatting. They've know each other for a long time. Thinking back to the last few days, Lloyd noticed that they were actually quite fun, excluding the professor's boring lectures about Mithos the Hero and the Goddess Martel. The three of them spent time at his place, chatting about Colette's journey and things of the such. He was relatively excited about it. The same could be said as his elf friend Genis. Talk about the oracle increased, now that the day was coming closer.

Upon feeling a blast of air in his face, the red clad boy saw that they were out of Iselia Forest and at the outskirts of Iselia. Noishe trotted towards the gate, which came into sight. Knowing that his dog wasn't allowed into the village, he dismounted and gave Noishe a light pat. The dog whined before dashing off to who-knows-where. Turning away, he enters the village and beelines for the school, walking past the Sage's house and the Mayor's house. It was when he was at the door of the building that he realized he forgot his homework at home. He inwardly groaned. Glancing at the clock, he panicked; he only had 15 minutes to copy Genis' homework (again)! Zooming into the classroom, he immediately focuses on a certain silver haired boy.

"Genis!" The red clad swordsman calls, going around the other clusters of students around the class. His friend gives him an quizzical look.

"Hey Lloyd. You actually came to class on time. That's a first."

"S-shut up!" Lloyd frowns, before giving the elf a pleading look. "Can I copy your homework?"

"Huh? Why?" Once again, the younger elf had a quizzical look on his face.

"I can explain later! Hurry before the professor comes and-" Lloyd stammers, glancing around the classroom before looking back at his friend.

"Before I what?" The teen stiffens and turns around to see a rather irritated woman, silver bangs brushed to the side allowing him to see her blue eyes glinting with fury.

"Uhhh... PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Lloyd cringes as he receives Raine's icy glare that could freeze hell over. Taking a chance, he sneaks a look at his teacher, who had an eerie aura around her.

"Lloyd Irving! How much times must I reprimand you for cheating!" Raine berated, shaking her head angrily. "Honestly, you should at least try to do the homework on your own before even asking for 'help'." The teen bowed his head, before looking back at the professor who continued, "Stand at the back of the room and hold those bucket filled with water." Not wanting to resurrect his teacher's wrath, he drags his feet over to the location indicated, picking up the pails of water. He takes a quick glance at the Genis, who gives him a sympathetic glance back. Today was definitely going to be a long day.

Class started shortly afterwards, which the students sat back in their seats and promptly waited to be given a lecture. Which didn't come. They gawked as the professor pulled out a stack of paper and announced that they had a pop quiz on the material about the summon spirits, item recognition, and some other stuff they learned.

"Don't worry. It isn't a huge part of your grade. I'm only checking to see if you studied. You have 20 minutes to complete it." Raine says before sitting in her chair. She pulls out a book and begins to read.

Lloyd wanted to cry now. Summon spirits? Really? They learned that ages ago! Although a bit panicked, he reassured himself that he'd at least be able to guess the answers if they were multiple choice. Which they obviously were not. He was allowed to go back to his seat to take the quiz. Suppressing a groan, he pulls out his pencil and glances down at the questions. There was a total of 10. Not bad. If he got a few right, he'd get a passable grade. Time to check out question number one...

1. How many summon spirits are there?

He stared a bit, racking his brain for the answer. He was pretty sure it was 5. Or was it 4? He can't really remember what the professor said that day at all... probably five right? Right. Okay... next...

2. What are their names and elements?

Damn it. Think... think... whoa... feeling a bit sleepy now... NO - don't fall asleep yet! Need... to... concentrate... Okay... thinking back to that lecture, the swordsman pondered a bit... There were... four... no.. five summon spirits. Wait... must write the elements down...

Fire, wind, water, light.

Wait... that's only four. He said there was five. Frowning, he scribbles out his previous answer (since his eraser was chewed off by Noishe weeks prior) and wrote down a messy '4'.

Fire was... something to do with fire... Efreet!  
Lloyd quickly wrote the other names down before he'd forget them, With a satisfied grin, he moves on.

3. Write a paragraph about what you know about their nature, mainly their strengths and weaknesses.

He frets a bit. Their strengths were kinda obvious. Like Efreet. He'd be strong against flame type attacks and weak against... what was it... Earth! Yeah. That was it wasn't it? If someone covered a fire with dirt, it'd be put out right? Right. Just as quickly as he wrote the other answers, he put down his thoughts and some made up answers he felt 'made sense'.

Not wanting to take too long, he scanned the rest of the quiz's questions.

4. Which item can you use to identify an enemy or monster? How may this information be useful? Explain in a short paragraph.  
5. List five recovery items and their uses. (Note: Do not use apple gel, orange gel or life bottle)  
6. ((32*7) + 6(452 - -34))(32*0) + 83*4 = ?  
7. Provide at least 2 properties of a triangle. Sketch a diagram to provide support for your answer.  
8. Write a brief summary about the chosen's journey of regeneration.  
9. What is the force of an object falling falling 10 meters with a weight of 45 kilograms? Draw a diagram.  
10. Draw the map of the continents and write the names of the cities. Include other landmarks and attractions.

Okay. He definitely was going to ignore math based problems. Bye bye to number 6 and 9. Glancing at his other options, he sighed. He could answer parts of the questions or guess the answers... 10 & 4 were kinda easy...*

After scribbling for the next many minutes, Lloyd finally gives up. With a soft groan, he rests his head on his desk, head aching from thinking about the 'possibly correct' answers he came up with. Hopefully the professor would have mercy on him. When the twenty minutes were up, Raine went around the class and retrieved the quizzes, telling Lloyd to go back to carrying the pails of water. The boy stood up and ambled to his spot. As the professor returned to the front of the classroom to begin the lecture, Lloyd gazed out the window at the sky. Oddly enough, it was clear and beautiful. Almost as if something incredible were suppose to happen.

He tuned out the professor's voice and closed his eyes...

"-Lloyd Irving, wake up! Lloyd!" The teen gasped as he felt something dusty smack into his face. Eyes fluttering open, he sees his teacher, sighing with exasperation. "Honestly Lloyd, how do you manage to sleep standing?" The teen gives her a sheepish grin as she promptly picks Genis to answer her question. As they continued on, Raine sighing when Lloyd interrupts, she goes to ask the next question but is cut off by a sudden glint from outside.

"W-what was that?" The students began to murmur with excitement and anxiety.

"I assume it is the oracle. Stay here while I go to check it out." Raine says as she rushes towards the exit. Colette requests to go as well but is denied. She walks over to Lloyd and Genis, who are standing by the door arguing about Raine's directions.

"-go Genis! She won't notice if we get back before she does!" The red clad swordsman argued, but only got a more skeptical gaze from the elf.

"Really Lloyd? How would we even manage to do that?" Shaking his head, the elf sighs.

"Awww, fine then." Lloyd turns to go back to his seat, but the room is filled with gasps as a priest stumbles in, covered in blood. They are all shocked. Rushing over, the three teens learn that the desians were attacking. Specifically at Martel Temple. Upon hearing those words, Colette instantly became anxious; her grandmother was at Martel Temple! Genis too looked worried since his sister went to 'check things out'. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the brunette beckoned his friends to go with him to save them.

Outside, no one could be seen. Breaking the eerie silence was Frank, Colette's father. He warned them about the desians before returning to his house. Nodding towards the others, Lloyd darts towards the northern gate, only to be stopped by a pair of monsters. He got a quick lesson from his friends about physical and elemental damage, which wasn't too hard to remember. Moving on, they dashed through the plains towards the temple, though it felt like eternity.

The three teens were panting when they got to the bottom of the stairs that led up to the entrance of the temple. Shouts could be heard, albeit they were muffled. Taking the lead, the blond girl climbs the stairs with apprehension. As the entrance comes into sight, they see three desians harassing Pheidra.

"Where is the chosen?" A man with a different outfit demands. 'He must be the leader' Lloyd concludes. Noticing that her granddaughter was here, the old woman cries,"Run, Colette!" That certainly gained the attention of the three desians, who notice the three teens standing behind them.

"Chosen one... Your life is mine!" The leader shouts.

"I won't let you desians get away with this!" The red clad swordsman hisses, indignantly drawing his wooden swords in a defensive manner.

"Desians?" One of the lackey says, before laughing in a crazed way. "Hahahaha! Then die by the hands of the desians you so hate!"

The two group collided, slicing away at each other. Lloyd, who took immediate offense, swerved away from the blades of the two desians who rounded on him. Though they nicked him a few times, he managed to land a few hard hits back. Ducking as a chakram whirled past his head, he leaps over one of the lackeys to defend the silver haired mage who was casting fire ball. As he blocked the sword that swung down on him, he was kicked in the gut followed by a round house kick to his shoulder. He shouts in surprise, stumbling back against the fence by the temple wall. Picking himself up, Lloyd sees that Colette pow hammered one of the desians unconscious. Genis on the other hand just casted fire ball, which scorched his soon to be attacker. Lloyd sent a demon fang to distract the lead desian, who was charging straight for Colette.

"I won't let you!" He growls, blocking a heavy hit from the man's crimson blade. The attack was really powerful, sending the dual swordsman to his knees, though he still held his stance. It was then he saw the leader motion to the others, who called out a towering desian with a ball and chain. Things weren't looking too well for the teens. Taking advantage of the brown haired teen's distraction, the lead desian broke his defense and sent him flying near the edge. Lloyd had to thrust his swords into the ground to keep himself from tumbling down the cliff, merely a meter away. Blinking away his pain, he gazed back to his blond friend...

"NO! COLETTE!" His voice screeches in the air, eyes widening with horror. The lead desian pierced the girl, staining her once white outfit bloody red. Lloyd struggles to his feet, promptly charging to the bastard. Colette is gasping on the ground and gives Lloyd a pleading glance to get away, though he doesn't see it in his blind rage.

With messy attacks on the bearded desian, he takes more damage than he deals. He curses.

"A-AHHHHH!" His eyes shoot over to his elf friend, who barely dodges the huge steel ball the desian called 'Vidaar' flings at him.

"Genis!" Lloyd chucks an apple gel at the elf, who gratefully accepts it. He rushed over to the elf but didn't reach him. The leader slashed at his blind spot, causing the teen to cry out in pain. Though it hurt to continue, he went anyway. He stumbled up only to be forcibly kicked in his gut again. As he was thrown back, he felt the fence he crash into break. Gravity took place and Lloyd fell back, no solid ground behind him.

As his vision became narrow with the angle he was falling at, his last glimpses of his friends were terrifying. Colette... Genis... The chestnut haired boy shuts his eyes as he falls hopelessly down the cliff. Upon impact, he feels his consciousness shut down, his final thoughts straying to his friends whom he couldn't save...

...

Lloyd twitched before allowing his eyes to flutter open.

The light that struct them was blinding. Sitting up, the boy sees that he's in a clearing, sitting on moist, lush grass. It was rather calming for the boy until he realized that he was dead. Of course he was! He just fell off a FREAKING CLIFF. Huffing out with some melancholy, the boy took the chance to look at 'heaven' or what he thought to be 'heaven'. It was quite different than what people would've portrayed it as. Especially the gigantic tree that was in the middle of the clearing. It was just as beautiful as the scenery around it. It felt so... alive. Standing up, the boy noticed a glimmer in front of the tree. Maybe it would explain why he was here?

Meandering around the various brambles, he approaches the spot where he saw the glimmer and stared blankly at what was in front of him.

In a translucent golden font, it reads...

New game.

**- Chapter One END -**

* That totally wasn't a reference to TWEWY! I SWEAR! I DIDN'T MEAN IT. (Though the 104 stuff was relatively easy in the beginning and stuff.) I mean... the missions related to 104 were easy ones like '10 + 4 = ?' or something like that... Sorry, that was totally unrelated...

Please review. I'll try to make the chapters longer.


	2. Chapter 2: Dreams and Reality

Thanks Link Fangirl01, Infinatum, E, Eivexst, JRZTimeTravel and amaya no shiori for the reviews~! Please pardon me for the super late update. It always takes me a long time to update for some odd reason.

I'm never too sure if people like long chapters or short chapters, but from what I see, people like long chapters. I'll try to make them longer than what I'm posting but... yeah. I'll see how it goes. (I really doubt I could write 10k long chapters ahaha)

Oh, quick note - although I want to follow the storyline, things can't go linear because Lloyd can do things that changes the future (like not going to Martel Temple, etc.) - so be prepared for whatever I toss out since it'll be a bit different...

Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter Two: Dreams and Reality

Lloyd stared at the golden translucent text that floated in front of him.

New game?

He scowled. Not too sure what he was suppose to do with that, he tried to find other glimpses of text around the area. Maybe he needed to find the next hint to this 'game' so he could at least know where he is... Strolling around the vicinity, he inspected the area around the tree. Nothing. Shaking his head with disappointment, he jogs away towards another area...

The landscape had plants, plants and more plants! How far did it stretch? He had been roaming away from the tree for the last twenty minutes. Glancing back, he became quite baffled. It looked as if he only traveled a mere 10 meters! Weird. Getting back on task, he scrutinizes the branches of the bushes and parts of land that dip downward. Nothing at all. He growled. He had no clue what he was suppose to do! Briskly jogging back to the tree, he glares down on the floating text.

"New game." Nothing happens.

"Start game?" Nothing happens.

"Play!" Nothing happens.

"GRRRR!" Then it came to him. Face palming, he reaches out and touches the text, which then shimmers brighter. That made more sense. Falling to his knees as his consciousness slip away, he closes eyes...

...

So warm and soft. Waking up, the chestnut haired teen yawns. What a strange dream he had. Glancing around, he sees he's in his room. It had to be a dream, otherwise he wouldn't be back home but... if it wasn't...

Gasping, he remembers the faces of Genis and Colette. The desians at the temple. He had to make sure it was all a dream. Though he told himself that it had to be a dream (since he wouldn't be here at the moment if it wasn't), it felt too real. The pain. The shock. All of it. Leaping out of bed, he quickly packs his bag and fills it with his pencil and paper. As he prepares to rush to school, he sees the homework he copied from Genis lying on the floor. He shouldn't forget that now should he? Just in case... He goes downstairs, bag slung over his shoulder. Dirk wasn't in sight. He must be sleeping the teen told himself. Quickly jotting down a note telling his dad he's going to school early, Lloyd takes out a sandwich he made the previous night. He almost forgot he made that. With that, he goes outside and calls Noishe.

The dog came over and barked at him. Climbing up, he broods over his dream. It felt so real to him. What could it possibly have meant? There was something about that tree... It gave him this feeling of familiarity. Sighing, he pushes that thought to the side. He needed to see his two childhood friends to reassure him that it wasn't real. It was a bad dream. It had to be. He clenched his fists tighter around the dog's white fur. A dream... it had to be... it just... It had to be! He kept telling himself, but inside he knew he didn't really believe it. What if it was a sign? A prophecy? That would be impossible though... but it was too vivid to be pushed aside like some nightmare! He needed to talk to someone. Right now. It is only when he is told it was just a dream that he could push the feelings of guilt and regret of not being able to protect his friends... since dreams may make it impossible to do what one really wants to do. Feeling they were going too slow, Lloyd urged Noishe to go faster. The animal whines a bit before increasing its speed.

"I don't understand what it means..." The red clad swordsman whispered as Iselia came into view. Quickly dismounting the dog, he runs into the village and straight to the school. His heart was beating so loud. Everything is okay. Entering the classroom, his eyes dart around to see the small elf and his blond friend. They were nowhere to be seen. The other students simply stopped talking and stared at Lloyd a bit before continuing their conversations. He stood there, lost.

"Lloyd!" The said boy instantly whipped around, startling a certain blue clad elf. "W-wha-?" Relief flooded him. That's right. They wouldn't be here if they were dead! Right, right... The boy reprimanded himself for trusting his dream. Maybe all of the professor's lectures were causing brain damage. 'That would explain a lot!' the boy chuckled to himself, getting a confused gaze from Genis.

"What's so funny? Wait, never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to know." The boy says, slightly smiling. "Anyway, what are you doing here so early? I'm surprised that you even got here before me! That's definitely a first!"

"Ah, about that..." The humor on his face disappears as he recalls everything that had happened. Or rather, what he thought had happened. He had so much he wanted to say but the words simply wouldn't form. Seeing the evident distress on the dual swordsman's face, Genis frowns.

"What's wrong?"

"Well..." The boy starts but then reconsiders. He wouldn't want to get the attention of the others... he'll tell him later. "Can I tell you later? This isn't really a good place to say it."

"Oh. Okay." The elf replies, apprehension clearly seen on his face.

The two go to their seats. Looking at the clock, Lloyd muffled his shock. He actually came an HOUR early to class. He laughed nervously. Now the professor DEFINITELY wouldn't let him off for coming late to class... Finally noticing how tired he is, he yawns and rests his head on the desk. He worried too much about that dream. If Genis knew about it, he'd probably tease the brunette of overusing his brain or remark about the abuse to his 'rarely used' brain. Scoffing at the insults he just made at himself, he fiddles with his hair. It seems he forgot to push it up in its usually gravity defying fashion. Now it just drooped on his face, mid-length and spiky. That would explain why his classmates were staring at him when he arrived. And he forgot to wear his red jacket and gloves. And the overalls. Now he was only wearing a black tank top and blue jeans, held up by two belts. Wonderful. He remembers one thing to forget about another. At least he brought his swords. Sighing, he pushes himself off the desk and gaze over to Genis, who was mumbling to himself.

"... rble is doing... I hope she's okay..." With his curious perked, Lloyd walks over to Genis' desk, which is to the front right of his.

"What's up? You look a bit frustrated."

"Oh. I-it's nothing!"The boy stammers, then refuses to make eye contact with the swordsman.

"Huh? Well, if you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to." He smiles, before continuing, "Do you want to hang out later today at my place?"

"Sure!" The elf grins. Moments later, he has a pondering look. "Hey... did you finish making Colette's birthday present?"

One thought came to Lloyd's mind: Oh shit.

"U-uhhhhhh... I'm almost done!" Genis gave him deadpan stare, soon let out a jaded sigh.

"Riiiiiiight."

"I'll have it done after school! If I work on it from that time to late afternoon it should be fine!"

"If you say so... I'll give her my present when you're gone just so you don't embarrass yourself." Lloyd sheepishly grins.

"Good morning!" Colette happily chirps as she walks over to the two boys who wave at her.

"Morning Colette!" The blond girl has an expression Lloyd can't really categorize. Huh. Did she have a fever or something? With concern, he reaches out and presses his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature.

"W-Wha?" The girl stammers, turning a deeper red. Lloyd gives her a sheepish grin, It seems she doesn't have a fever! Somehow, the girl always managed to worry him. "What is it Lloyd?"

"Just worried that you were feeling sick, y' know? You're face was flushed so I thought you had a fever or something!" The dual swordsman smiles humorously.

"I'm fine! Thanks for your concern." The chosen smiled.

"Glad to know." Lloyd says.

"Ehem." Turning towards Genis, Lloyd gives him an inquisitive look. The boy chuckles as he says,"If you guys are going to flirt, can you do it somewhere else?" Lloyd stared blankly at the boy while a certain somebody flushes.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Genis face palms and Colette simply looks away. "Hey! Don't leave me out!"

"Sorry Lloyd, but you're gonna have to figure this one out on your own." The elf laughs.

"Aww, come on!"

"Ask Colette!"

"E-eh?"

Once again, the swordsman had an inquisitive look as he gazed at his blond friend, who was now retreating to her desk. He groaned. Why didn't anyone want to tell him what Genis meant? Well... he DID know what flirting was, but what did it have to do with him? Eh, whatever. Checking the time again, he noticed they still had a long time more until class began. He might as well practice his sword techniques. Never know when those desian bastards would come and attack them. Heading away from his friend, who was toppled over and shaking from laughter, he leaves the classroom.

Outside, he had to do everything to keep himself on commenting how beautiful the sky looked. And how it eerily looked like yester- errr, the dream. Weird. Well... EVERYTHING about today was weird to him. Like him actually waking up in the morning to forgetting to wear his red clothing! He eve brought the homework he copied this time! Shaking the thoughts away, he goes to find a spot near the school to practice. Swinging his swords around in a fluid motion, he fights against the image of that desian from him dream.

Dodge to the left. Watch out for his kicks and slash diagonally. Concentrate on your enemy...

"LLOYD! WATCH OUT!"

Whipping around, he sees an all too familiar scene - monsters entering the village. That was just great. After his short warm up, he rushes at the pack, quickly sending two wolves skidding on the dirt with a diagonal spin. With a demon fang, he impeded the entrance of a third monster. Taking advantage of the enemies stagger, he darts towards the wolves, thrusting his wooden blade into one's head, promptly killing it. With his other blade, he smashes the other wolf's head to the ground, a slight crack audible under its short yip of pain. Once it went motionless, Lloyd turns to the last monster, which is charging straight for him. Taking it out with a few demon fangs, he growls. Through the window, he sees the worried faces of his friends, as well as the anxious ones of his classmates.

Breathing out with released tension, he sheaths his swords and turns to go to class, but stops. He gaged on the air he breathed. Across the village near the exit by Iselia Forest, he sees a brigade of people, each clad in a burgundy suit with metal guards on them. Their familiar helms brings a twisting feel to his gut.

"D-DESIANS!" He hears a scream as the people outside the shops and homes scatter, entering vacant houses and going into a total lockdown.

Lloyd freezes as he sees who is leading the group.

A man with spiky brown hair and a white robe-like armor. The same man from his dream. Every event from his dream at Martel Temple flashed before his eyes. With burning ire, he subconsciously approaches the group, barely hearing his friends cry out with alarm. Drawing both swords, he stood in the way of the group, glaring the bunch down. The leader gave the boy a surprised expression, almost as if it were from recognition, but it quickly faded away to an expression Lloyd couldn't read.

"What do you desians want?" The boy hisses, continuing his glare on the leader.

"It is none of your concern human!" One of the troops said, scoffing at Lloyd's question. Another quickly adds, "We have no reason to tell you. Now tell us where the chosen is if you wish to keep that head of yours!"

"Over my dead body!" Taking the first strike with a demon fang, the black topped boy rushes the brigade, narrowly dodging a few arrows aimed at his vitals. Twisting away from another desian, he slashes another down to the ground. He grunts with mild irritation as his left arm, which had a pretty deep gash on it, throbbed. Gasping as the air in his lungs is painfully forced out from a heavy kick, he crashes against a nearby tree. Ouch. It definitely didn't help that he didn't have the cushion of his red jacket, not that it would've made a huge difference. Staggering to his feet, the brunette flings himself forward into another clash with the desian group.

Dodge under and sweep to the right...

Slash out with both blades - avoid that falling body!

Spin... jump... dodge...

The adrenaline pumped in Lloyd's blood as he made his way for a certain brown haired desian. Now face to face, he glares, growling with frustration. He felt himself being pushed back. Not wanting to give in, he leaps back and -

WHAM!

"Argh!" Whatever he hit, it was forced back a bit but then stopped moving. Coming out of his short disorientation, his auburn eyes flick to meet another set of eyes of the same shade.

"Get out of the way."

"W-wha-" The teen is pushed behind the man as he steps forward to confront the desian. Staring at that back, Lloyd couldn't help but feel slight nostalgia... but quickly shook away the feeling because it was impossible to feel that way with a stranger... right? Yup. Had to be. He could think of it later. Right now... he had some desian ass to kick!

He was about to join in the fight with this purple clad swordsman but realized that his friends were rushing towards him. Not good! He quickly put himself between them and the desian, who's attention was suddenly on Colette.

Think Lloyd! Think! AGH. WHY WASN'T HIS BRAIN WORKING RIGHT NOW?

He wanted to get back at the desian, even though he was just a resemblance of his dream enemy... or.. uhh... Lloyd started to confuse himself. Never mind that, he sheathed both of his swords and grabbed each of his friends by the wrist. It was now or never - he didn't like the foul taste in his mouth. He just _knew_ that if he didn't take them to another place, the same thing that happened in his dream may occur and become reality!

"L-Lloyd?" His friends shout as he drags them away out of Iselia in the direction of Martel Temple. With a glance back as they escape, he sees the desians the mysterious man couldn't block chase them. Damn it!

"You guys - go ahead and hide in the temple! I gotta slow these guys down, otherwise none of us with make it out alive!"

"Wha? No! We can't leave you behind!" The blond girl gasped, ceasing her run along with the short elf.

"Yeah Lloyd! Besides, you're outnumbered, 15 to 1 if you try it!"

"You guys-!" Lloyd groans.

To stay or not to stay.

He decided not to stay.

The temple was their best bet. They could do something there! He just felt it! He'd have to ask the other two if they can make up a plan to beat these guys there 'cuz he had no clue whatsoever.

"Agh - never mind! Let's get out of here! OH! I GOT AN IDEA!" Lloyd shouts as they set off in another sprint.

"WHAT IS IT LLOYD?" Genis huffs, stumbling occassionally.

"HOW ABOUT I CARRY YOU WHILE YOU CASTS MAGIC?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WITH THE WAY YOUR RUNNING, IT'LL JUST BREAK MY CONCENTRATION!"

"LET'S TRY ANYWAY!"

"W-WAIT LLO- HEY! PUT ME DOWN!"

"HAHA - I GOT A MAGIC WEAPON NOW!"

"LLOYD! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! WE'RE GONNA DIEEEEEEE!"

"THEN START CASTING! IF YOU SET EVERYTHING ON FIRE-"

"-WE'LL GET BURNED TO A CRISP TOO! THIS SIDE OF THE FOREST IS SUPER DRY! SIS IS GOING TO KILL ME IF SHE FINDS OUT I STARTED A FOREST FIRE!"

"I DON'T THINK THAT MATTERS AT THIS POINT GE- AHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! LLOYD! DODGE DODGE DODGE! **WE'RE ALL GONNA TO DIEEEEE**!"

"J-JUST START CASTING!"

"F-FIREBALL!"

None of the them could believe it. What would've been Genis' normal sized fireball turned out to be one huge ball of hell going straight for a dry patch of grass (I'm sorry grass! Lloyd calls).

"W-what the h- AGHH!" The screams of many desians could be heard through the vicious flicks of the fires which was quickly spreading. Lloyd picks Colette up and runs faster than he thought he could. The flames quickly chase after the teens, eating the dried and withering brambles and plants. Lloyd thought the priests said they kept this area moist to prevent massive fires!

By the time the three arrived at Martel Temple, Lloyd was sweating waterfalls, being the one who did all the running (it was a far distance). He collapses to the ground to take a break, his friends also sitting down, quite baffled at what just happened.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Raine's gonna kill us all."

The two boys groan while Colette just laughs nervously. They could all see the smoke billowing towards the sky. A lot of it in fact. It didn't help that they could see the fire they (rather Genis) made.

"I hope it doesn't reach Iselia..." Colette murmurs.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"We're dead aren't we?"

"...yeah."

"Eh... there's nothing we can do. Let's go to the temple. The oracle came didn't it?"

"... what are you talking about Lloyd?" The silver hair mage questions, scrunching his brows in confusion. "It didn't..."

"Whaaa? Oh-" The oracle came in his dream. Right... right... he seriously needed to forget about that dream. It was totally messing him up big time. Well -

A bright light shines and floats down towards the temple.

"Wooooow..." Genis mutters as he follows after his best friend, who darts up the stairs behind Colette.

"Colette!" An old woman says, approaching the teens.

"Grandmother! Are you alright?" Colette said quite worried. "Did the desians come here?"

"No...?" Phaedra gave Colette an inquisitive look before turning to the two boys.

"The desians were looking for Colette! They could be here soon... so I think we should go in the temple and lock the door. At least this will stall them." Lloyd says, rubbing his temple. The others silently agreed, entering the structure.

As they entered, the teens glance around wary about the atmosphere. It had a sense of danger and bloodlust. The priests that were Colette's bodyguards kept a protective circle around the girl, staves in hand and eyes glancing at the distance.

They continued towards the alter but saw that it was blocked by a barrier.

"Huh. What're we going to do about this?"

"Oh! I think we need the sorcerer's ring to get rid of it!"

"I see... so where do we get it?"

"I believe it was further in the temple..."

"O-oh. Okay... so which way...?"

"Ummm... I think it was that way?"

"..."

"..."

"Heh heh... sorry..."

Their footsteps were the only thing breaking the silence. No one felt compelled to talk, but the tension in the air was suffocating. There were monsters crawling all over the temple. After many battles, they were met with... a dead end.

Sighing, they had to retrace where they came from earlier. This time around though, they did find a staircase. With much needed caution, they began to proceed but jumped when they heard an extremely loud crash...

"T-that was from the front of the temple, right?" Genis exclaims, slightly going pale.

"I- I think so?" Lloyd replies, brows furrowing.

"Do you think it's the desians? We'll be trapped if they follow us this way!"

"We need to pick up the pace and look for an escape route just incase."

They entered a room, standing on translucent tiles that kept them above the dark pit bellow. There were spaces at various locations, gaining the interest of the different group members. As they continued to inspect the area, they noticed a sparkle at an alter.

"Ah! That's the sorcerer's ring!" Colette chirped. The others nodded towards each other.

"So... how are we suppose to get it? There's no pathway to get there..." Lloyd mumbles, rubbing his neck.

"There's probably some sort of mechanism that will open up a path for us." Genis says, glancing around.

"Well... say we don't find this 'mechanism'... I could always throw you to the alter!" Lloyd says, eyes brightening with his idea. He's a genius!

"Umm... Lloyd? THAT'S JUST STUPID! Are you an idiot? Wait, do I even need to ask?" Genis sighs, Lloyd giving him an irked expression, challenging him to explain himself. Genis deadpans, "Even if I got there, how the heck am I suppose to get back?"

"... Oh."

"'Oh' indeed Lloyd..." Genis face palms.

"Well... I guess we can only look for some sort of puzzle?" Lloyd asks, turning to Colette and quickly pales.

"Watch out!" Quickly gaining the attention of the others, they too begin to panic seeing the girl curiously look at a huge golem.

The fight itself wasn't extremely difficult since there were 10 of them and only one of it. Genis' water magic did a great deal of damage, quickening the golem's defeat. As soon as the monster died, it turned into a stone cube, as big as Lloyd.

As the group gathered around, they looked at it. Colette, being the klutz she is, tripped, shoving the block towards the unfortunate Lloyd, who was unfortunately standing in front of the huge hole on the ground... Things weren't really looking so good now.

With a startled yelp, he falls through the hole and lands painfully on a stone pavement.

"Oww... eh...?" The poor boy looks up as a shadow blocks out the light. He could hear the horrified screams of his friends and the priests as the cube came down upon him.

'Everything was over...' was what Lloyd thought as he squeezed his eyes shut...

...

...

"AAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHH!"

Lloyd felt his voice rip out from his throat. He rolled around, the pain of being crushed still imprinted in his mind... wait...

He stopped rolling around.

What the hell?

Now on his stomach, he opens his shut eyes, light blinding him. Why the heck did that feel like deja vu? As the world became more vivid, replacing the dancing blobs of color, he felt his jaw drop with dismay and horror.

In front of him was that same tree...

and those same damn translucent golden words:

New Game.

- **Chapter Two END** -


	3. Chapter 3: Oh, for the love of -

Good day~! I hope the other chapter was as amusing for you to read as it was for me to write.

Thanks JRZTimeTravel, E and amaya no shiori for the review! Glad to know you're enjoying the story so far!

Concerning the topic when Lloyd will get more game mechanics stuff, it will have to be slow since he's doesn't even know it exists... yet.

Sorry again but this is going to be a short chapter.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Three: Oh, for the love of-

Oh Goddess no. No no no no no.

'You got to be kidding me...' dear Lloyd twitches, knowing that some higher entity was laughing his or her ass off seeing that the teen has died... Again. And was brought back to life...AGAIN.

...

"WHAT THE -" BEEEEEEEEEEP. Lloyd jumps. Okay... Weird..some something just censor his speech...? Never mind that, he needed some answers. Right now. Seriously though, what did he do to piss someone off, let alone get this kind of treatment? Shaking his head to let off an incoming headache, he drags his feet to the golden words - again. Sighing, he stares at it.

Game... What game? He simply didn't understand. Biting his lip, he sits down on the soft grass. Going back to what was most likely the 'real world' wouldn't do anything beneficial. The boy knew this since, well, if what he was thinking of is true, he'd just end up here again either from falling to death or being crushed to death. Ouch. Painful memories... painful memories...

Though... this thing about a 'new game'... there was something about it... new game... new game... Somehow, the brunette knew there was something significantly important that was connected to this 'new game'. He just couldn't put his finger on it!

Regardless, he would find what was bothering him when he looked at those infuriating words. He needed to connect the dots for now, even if there weren't many to connect. He could think about the word problems later.

As for his current problem, AKA floating text and the BIG DAMN TREE (also his strange revival), he growls. He just didn't get how text could even _float_. How was that even possible? He'd seen nothing like it in the past, nor did he ever hear about such things in Sylvarant. Then there's this tree. The thing that _feels_ familiar but he has NEVER seen it before! It aggitates him, knowing that he may have seen it before but... he may have never seen it... Wait a moment.. does that even make sense anymore?

Shaking his head, he ponders about the past events.

First of all, he remembers waking up and going to school... then there's that thing about the desians at Martel Temple... and there he dies. By that white robed desian... white... it was white... most likely.

Then he woke up here. That doesn't make sense... Well, he'd have to figure out the logic behind his revival later... and how it's even possible. Anyways, he touched the stupid floating words and was brought back to his room. He then goes to school but finds out he's early. He trains then meets the desians _in_ Iselia. Then causes a forest fire and dies in Martel Temple by...

He pales a bit. That was a VERY painful memory. He'd have to make sure to stay clear of Colette's path. He never actually got hurt by her clumsiness before... Actually, her clumsiness is what usually _helped_ people, not _hurt_ them!

Sighing, he rubs his neck as he stares at the words again, thoughts going in never ending circles of nonsense - of things he just _didn't_ get.

"Wait a moment... could it be...?" He stared at the text. "Well... There's only one way to find out...here we go again..."

...

...

...

A warm, comfortable light strikes Lloyd's face. Eyes fluttering open, he growls. 'Just wait... If my theory is true... Oh Goddess I hope it isn't... then it'll help me understand my situation better... Hopefully.' The teen grimaces.

After many many minutes have passed, he hears the door open and footsteps quickly follow.

"AHHHHHH!" DAMN IT ALL. He jumps out of his bed, soaking wet, listening to the exact same words his dad said that day he died from falling off a cliff. As soon as his dad left, the teen sighed.

"This sucks."

Okay. So maybe... he will always start from this day (day of the oracle) each time he dies? He could alway test it out but... he rather spare himself the pain of getting killed. It DEFINITELY wasn't pleasant. Well, this was the third time he was waking up but... it was only the second time he died. He could be wrong... If only he could talk to someone about this! He hisses as he repacks everything he needed today (this time he remembered to wear his red outfit).

Down the stairs. Breakfast. Out the door. Ride on Noishe. Enter school.

Grumbling as he walked into class, he sees Genis and Colette conversing. He sighs as he takes his seat, deciding to spend more time thinking about what's going on rather than talking with his friends. As comforting as it could be, he'd probably be off in his own world. He didn't need to seem anymore spaced off than usual - at least, not right now.

Fiddling with his hands, he stares out the window.

Compared to the first time he died, there were changes to what happened. Like his meeting with the desians in Iselia rather than Martel temple. Huh. That was odd. Then again, what wasn't odd with his life?

So far, he only connect his 'rebirth' point, from death to the tree. Everything else that followed seemed to be the same as far as Lloyd was concerned. Huuuhhhh. Then that would mean...

Pop quiz.

Of course! He came later today so... that means he came _just on time _for the quiz. He groans. Maybe he should just skip doing any of the problems... it's not like he really got anything correct when he took the quizzes anyway.

Just like that day, he received his quiz and filled out the answers half-assed. Not like it was important at this point in time. He had some serious thinking to do right now!

Quickly glancing at the silver haired elf reading her book at her desk, he sighs. Maybe he should just skip class next time... Or... maybe he should ask Genis about the questions before he dies again...

Although it may be a little suspicious of him to turn his quiz in early, mainly because the professor may suspect he's cheating, he didn't really care. He could take it again later...

Wait - scratch that. Why did he even consider taking it again later? Taking it again later meant he had to start a new game again. To start a new game meant he had to be at the tree. The only way to the tree is to die. Lloyd didn't like the feeling of death. No thank you. He'd prefer staying in one piece (normal one piece, not cut up or partially bleeding to death). Screw the quizzes - if he dies, he'll do them then.

Promptly turning in his quiz early while getting a surprised look from his teacher, he stares off into space.

Going back to topic... there was probably more to being revived. Surely there had to be! If - whoever it may be - decided to allow him to come back to life, surely he/she would give him other abilities! Lloyd absentmindedly fiddles with the things in his desk... wait wait wait... What things? Lloyd didn't have _things_ in desk!

He takes out whatever was in his desk, promptly ignoring the irritated glare the professor gave him as he noisily shuffled the stuff. It was some sort of... manual? The heck? Seeing that the professor was now making her way towards him, he glances between the manual and his pissed off teacher. He probably needed this... so he hid it in his bag.

One could guess what happened to Lloyd.

Back of the room, holding buckets filled with water. This time, he wasn't going to fall asleep because he had important matters to think about. Like that manual. He felt that that was way more important than paying attention in class. Not like he even given the thought of ever paying attention. Besides, there was time before the professor began her lecture!

For once - he was actually _interested_ in reading some sort of book. Getting antsy, he peered over to his teacher, who was very focused on preparing the materials needed for her lecture for the day. Glancing over to his bag (which he managed to bring with him to the back), he keeps a steady eye on his 'enemy'. Slowly placing the buckets on the ground, he takes out the book. He had to make sure the professor wouldn't confiscate that too... Maybe he should take off his gloves since it always seemed to crinkle the paper loudly.

Staring at the front, the title was written in a simple font. No pictures. Only five blue words written on the cover.

Tales of Symphonia: Game Mechanics.

He gave an incredulous stare at it. Game mechanics? **_Game_ _mechanics_**? Okay... he had a feeling that things would get even more crazy than crazy when he'd turn the first page. First though... what was this 'Tales of Symphonia' it was talking about? He'd never heard of such a thing... Well, maybe some things are better left unanswered.

Forget the title, time to move on. Nervously flipping the front page, it begins with an introduction...

**You have completed an achievement! Game mechanics option unlocked.**

Lloyd stiffles a shout. Where the heck did that 'bling' sound come from? And was that... floating golden words... Oh Goddess no... ignore... ignore... Okay... okay... proceed... Looking back at the text in front of him, he reads:

_Tales of Symphonia: Game Mechanics. Everything you need to know about the mechanics of the game, from the menu screen to data searching. With over 100 chapters of information, it consists of all the basics you need to understand the game._

What.

100 chapters?! 100? What. What. What the hell?

The chestnut haired boy scowls. Menu screen? Data searching? Flipping to the next page, he sees the table of contents...

_Table of Contents_

_Chapter One ... Basic Functions of the Menu Screen_

_Chapter Two ... Techniques - Striker versus Technical_

_Chapter Three ... Items and Equipment_

_Chapter Four ... Strategies and battle formation_

...

Yada yada yada...

Now bored with his very brief scan of the table of contents, he sighs. This was going to take a while. A long while. He could already feel his interest partially blow away with how long it was. Though... the chapters surely couldn't be that long right? The book was practically a centimeter thick! Each chapter was probably only half a page to a page long at most! He could only pray it was in simple terms. He never actually payed attention to the professor when she was teaching language... In fact... skimming the table of contents, there were exactly 100 pages (excluding the introduction and table of contents)... each chapter was 1 page! Wow.

He flips the page to chapter one... basic functions of the menu screen... Quickly skimming over the information present on the page, he feels his eyebrow raise itself with simple disbelief.

_The menu screen contains everything you need and will need._

He blinks, trying to digest what he just read, barely keeping the book in hand due to his utter bafflement.

_You can open the menu screen through will power. Simply draw out the command of opening the menu screen with your mind._

Was this really applicable to him? No. Way.

_After executing the command, you will see a screen in front of you._

**Menu screen unlocked.**

Okay. What is up with strange golden text floating in front of him? He already felt himself getting pissed off (mainly because it reminded him of a certain pair of words he saw each time he died). Anyways...

He had to try this. Now. But... was there anything else it had to say...? It seems a bit short for a part about the basic functions... Oh! He got it! Maybe more text is hiding on the bottom and he'd have to push it up! Haha - yeah right. Not possible. This was a freaking book. How the hell can text be pushed UP? He'd only end up ripping the page... right?

...

No harm in trying.

Gently pressing his finger on the page, he pushes up and practically gawks in shock.

Holy. Hell.

The text and images shifted.

No. Way.

Oh Goddess save him.

Staring at the right margin of the page, he feels himself pale. There was a freaking progress bar! Not only that... the bar was FREAKING LONG. There was NO WAY he was going to read all of that! Heck no!

Still staring at the page...

He didn't notice his teacher call his name to answer a question.

He didn't notice that the class had gone silent with his shuffling around.

He didn't notice a pissed off orange clad elf glaring at him.

He didn't notice the chalk she was tossing up in preparation of her throw.

He didn't notice it flying towards him.

He didn't even notice it hit him extremely hard on the head.

He didn't even flinch.

"LLOYD. IRVING!" A screech that sounded like pure horror pierces the air. Everyone runs to the sides of the room, diving clear of the woman who was now 'breathing fire' and was 'ready to kill'. No one dared to step in to calm her.

Finally realizing his terrible mistake, he scrambles his thoughts together and cowers at the incoming demon coming at him.

He was in for some deep shit.

...

...

...

"Owwww... Genis. Your sister is a _demon_."

"No. You're just stupid. You didn't even respond when she called your name! You totally deserved it that time."

As expected, the oracle arrived too late to save Lloyd from the professor's wrath. Now that she left, the students were free to do what they want (no they actually weren't but there was no one supervising them).

"No! I was doing something important!" The youth said defensively.

"Like what?"

"Reading a super important book! Duh Genis."

Every single person in the class gawks at Lloyd (except Colette, who smiles). Lloyd said he was reading. IMPOSSIBLE.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that!"

"You got to be kidding me - when did you ever _like_ reading? Let alone think a book is important? Are you okay Lloyd? I better call Raine back... I think you got a head injury." The shorter male jokes, still in shock of hearing his friend say he was reading.

"... That's not funny."

"Heh heh!" Colette giggles, before approaching her two friends. Tilting her head with curiosity, she says,"What exactly were you reading while the professor was lecturing?"

"Well..." Hold on... how the heck was he suppose to explain it to them? Well... no point in beating around the bush. "It's a game manual."

"Game manual? About what?" Genis frowns, glancing at the book in Lloyd's hands.

"Yeah - but it doesn't make any sense." To you guys, he internally adds. What was the probability that they'd have the same things...? Maybe he should let them see it?

"Eh? It doesn't? Show me it!" Handing over the book, the shorter boy goes to open it, but quickly realizes it refuses to open. "What the heck?"

"What's wrong?"

"It won't open!"

"Let me try!" Colette chirps, determination in her eyes.

She fails.

"That's weird... it's almost like some foreign force is sealing it close..." The silver haired mage says, rubbing his chin with speculation. "Try open it Lloyd?"

The said boy easily opens the book.

"Huh. Weird. Well, now that it's open, wanna take a look?"

"Okay!"

The three teens gather and look at the introduction. Actually, only Genis and Colette are looking since Lloyd already read it.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Lloyd?"

"Yeah Genis?"

"I can't read it."

"..."

"I'm not kidding."

"What."

"It looks like a bunch of scribbles and nonsense."

"..."

Lloyd wants to cry now. He really does.

He was alone in this damned reality.

All. ALONE.

With this stupid manual.

And that damn tree he'd probably be seeing soon again.

Oh, for the love of -

**DAMN IT ALL.**

**- Chapter Three END -**

A/N: Hehehe - poor Lloyd. I like to pick on him. Anyways, that's my introduction and starting point of the game mechanics option! We'll get to see how Lloyd copes with such options in the future!

Review? :3


	4. Chapter 4: Menu Madness

Hello! Thanks JRZTimeTravel, E and Guest for the reviews! I'd like to apologize for the extremely late update.

It's been a while since I updated, so I hope I can keep the flow the same as it is like in the previous chapters.

Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy~!

* * *

Chapter Four: Menu Madness and the New Party Member

Yup. Lloyd was despairing right now. He had many reasons to since no one would be able to relate to what he's going through at the moment. He keeps a steady mind so he won't end up throwing the damn manual to the other side of the classroom for anger venting. Or burn it. Not that he knows if it'll even be close to bursting into flames or be protected by some 'mystical' force similar to what prevented his friends from opening or reading it.

His friends simply gives him worried expressions as he fake sobs into his desk.

Well, he was beyond trying to get others to understand him... for now. At the moment, he had to try out the menu screen thing. Flipping back to the menu screen page, he skims for the section on how to bring it up.

Will power.

Will power.

Will power.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO THAT? The red clad swordsman groans as he tries to think of ways to make it pop up. Surely it shouldn't be too difficult right? It had to be easy because it's the very first chapter for crying out loud! Who made the early chapters hard? No one, Lloyd huffs silently.

Did he simply have to think about it to have it pop up?

Might as well try it and find out..

'Menu Screen' the boy concentrates deeply, furrowing his eyebrows. He hoped he didn't have to visualize whatever this menu screen is since he didn't even know how it'd look like.

Nothing happens.

Lloyd is not amused.

Once more, the boy tries to think of this 'menu screen' with much intensity.

"What are you doing Lloyd?" The silver haired elf questions, poking his friend on the forehead.

"Hey! I'm concentrating right now!"

"On what?"

"Well..." Trying to open the menu screen. "If something needs 'will power' to make something happen, I just need to think deeply about it don't I?"

"Um. No. I don't think that's it. If you're talking about will power, wouldn't it be more closer to wanting something and urging it to happen rather than thinking about it? There's a difference." Genis continues, shrugging at the older boy's question. "It's kinda like magic. I can't channel it if I'm simply thinking about it. I need to, umm, urge it forward. Agh. It's a bit hard to explain how to do. Just think of it kinda like that, okay?"

"Oh! That makes sense." Lloyd responds, although he doesn't really get it. Especially the magic reference.

"If you say so..." The smaller male replies, giving the brunette a skeptical glance.

"Okay! Let's do this!"

The dual swordsman 'urges' the menu screen to appear. He gazes in amazement at the now floating, transparent screen in front of him. It was composed of many floating blocks that were light blue, consisting of plain golden text. The boxes floated all around him, he noticed. He lifts his hand and does a swiping motion, causing the boxes to spin around him so he can look at the other options.

Whoa. Weird stuff.

Proceeding to ignore the strange looks his friends were giving him, he reads what the boxes are labeled.

Items... Techs... Equipment... Status... Party Members...

Eh?

It was only then did Lloyd notice that certain options had a lock symbol on them with faded words on them, such as the 'Synapsis' option or the 'Options' option. What?

Many other options simply had the lock symbol on them without any text.

Locked? He tries tapping on some of the strange boxes, which strangely were somewhat tangible, but a soft buzzing sound suggests he can't open it. Wonderful. The brunette concludes that the ones that are locked with text must be important for the future. He'd just have to figure out how to unlock them.

That he wasn't sure how to do.

Since its got a lock... and its technically brought up through willpower... then there should be a key! And that key might be brought up through willpower! Genius!

Lloyd fails.

"Maybe not." The red clad swordsman murmurs, still pondering what the locked items were.

Okay... he had a lot of exploring to do with this 'menu screen.' He can do that later though. He just remembered what was 'suppose' to happen next AKA desians attacking Martel Temple. Frowning, he stands up and goes to the door, where he is intercepted by the short mage who tries to convince the older boy to stay. He fails at it.

"Come on! We don't know what kind of danger the people at the temple may be in!" Lloyd urges.

"Danger? How? The priests are there and I doubt the monsters will go that close to the temple..."

Right. Genis didn't know about the desians.

"Ugh, let's go anyways. I have a bad feeling right now."

"He's right. I also had a bad feeling. Maybe there's something going on!" Colette says worriedly. It's understandable because her grandmother is at the temple. Normally, Lloyd would've felt guilty for making his blond friend worry, but it can't be helped due to him already knowing to an extent what may happen.

"Let's hurry!"

The three dart off, but are stopped by Frank when they get outside the school grounds. Lloyd worried if they'd be stopped from going to the temple, but that wasn't the case. Frank kindly gave the group a pack of healing items: a few apple gels, orange gels, magic lenses, and life bottles. He wished the teens to be safe, knowing they'd go to the temple regardless of what he says.

After defeating the monsters at the exit by the school, they hurry towards Martel Temple...

Lloyd wipes a few beads of sweat from his face. The three had a few battles with monster wolves, hawks and rabbits. His two younger friends were a bit tired from the sudden ambush earlier, so the group decided to take a short break before continuing on their journey.

Now was the best time to check out the menu screen!

First... party members... Tapping on the specified box, all of the other floating boxes disappear, being replaced by a group of boxes with a profile of the brunette and his friends.

HP? TP? What did that mean? Lvl? Stamina! At least there was something he could understand. Right now, Genis' stamina was at 30%, Colette's at 46%. Lloyd himself was at 69%. The dual swordsman decided that he should let the young mage recover to at least 60% before they continue on. He didn't realize how fast their pace was and the toll it was taking on the silver hair boy. Cue guilt trip.

Shaking his head, Lloyd taps his profile to see if anything would happen. Who knows. If something didn't happen, that'd be okay. But Lloyd knew there was almost ALWAYS something more to each damn thing related to this 'game' he was apparently 'playing.'

Putting it like that, the brunette suddenly got super pissed. His life is NOT a game! He'd make sure to get revenge on whoever decided to put him through this hellish experience later.

Back to topic, after tapping on his profile, Lloyd sees that a list of stuff appears. Atk... Str... Def... Oh! He got it! It's 'attack,' 'strength,' and 'defense!' Looking at his stats, he concluded that they were pretty good (considering he only had Colette and Genis to compare to). Seeing what other stats there were, he checked out evasion and accuracy. Then there was luck and... intelligence.

Oh hell no.

Lloyd knows he's not the brightest out there. Of course he knows that. But seeing this pitiful number is just too cruel. He didn't even want to consider saying it due to various reasons. All he could say is that his INT is less than half the amount of Genis'. Not like that would be a surprise since the mage is a genius. His name is almost spelt exactly the same as genius!

And of course his luck had to be close to zero. That would explain all the unfortunate events he had to go through. Like having to take a quiz. Or forgetting to bring his copied homework. Or getting smashed by a FREAKING block. And dying by it too. Yeah. He concluded he had no luck in having a life. Quite literally.

Sighing, it takes him another few minutes before he can find out how to get back to the main menu. Once again, he skims around the different options, deciding that he should at least check out techniques and items before they move on. Genis was at 52% stamina, so he'd have to look quickly and stop pondering about things. It was going to give him a serious headache later and make him even sadder that he's alone in this problem.

Popping open the techniques, he notices he can view EVERYONE's techniques, not just his own. Why? He didn't know. Maybe it'll be helpful in the future? Not that he'd be able to remember what each technique does. That would be like asking the brunette to remember what was the class material. No. He was just kidding. Class material and this are different.

It appeared that the only technique that he has is... demon fang.

He scratched his head in slight confusion. He was pretty sure he had other techniques he created, like double slash and falcon's fury, although they aren't really anything too special. Still, he'd think they'd at least be listed under this section called 'techniques' since they are techniques. This just utterly confuses him.

Quickly checking out his friends' 'techniques,' he sees fireball for Genis and ray thrust for Colette. Strange. Lloyd thought that that attack move of Colette's was just like how she normally throws her weapons. Maybe he should ask her about it later...

He found out how to switch between these 'windows' (as he called it) faster by some arm gestures. To go to a more detailed 'window,' he had to pull his arms out. Having his arms straight forward and pulling them back, kinda like a bird when it straightens its wings or something. The opposite would be to get to a less detailed screen. He also found out that swiping his hands made the windows swap. Interesting.

Anyway, Lloyd opened the 'Items' screen and looked at what was there. There were many tabs with pictures on them. They probably sorted the items based on 'class'. Shrugging, he takes a look at what he believes to be the healing supplies section. It has the items Frank gave them and a few other stuff they already.

...

This made no sense.

He remembered taking the items from Frank, but where exactly did they go? He did a quick check on himself and found he didn't have it on him (he didn't carry a bag).

"Genis, Colette! Do you guys have the bag of supplies Frank gave us?" The two others stood up from their resting spots and walked over to the swordsman.

"No." Genis shakes his head, Colette following suit. "Why? Didn't you take it?"

"...Yeah. Forgot about that." The brunette lies. "That reminds me, you had other healing items on you right?"

"Of course! Raine said if we ever went out the village we'd have to keep a few items on us."

"Do you have it right now?"

"Yeah, I should have it right- what." The silver hair mage looks flustered. "It was in here! Where did it go?"

Lloyd concluded that the people in his 'party' all shared items. And that those items are sent to some place. And that they were only accessible by using the 'item' screen thing. So... does that mean the others won't be able to use items if he's out? This made the swordsman worry.

Or was there more to it?

"Oh! I found it!" Genis grins, taking out a small pouch that held supplies.

Just kidding. Lloyd face palms at his admitted stupidity. It would make no sense for this item menu thing to take his friends' items! He needs to figure out how it works later... He'd have to fix his conclusion later.

The next things he'd have to check on are the inventory, status, and strategy sections. No time to do that now since Genis' stamina is at 73%. Using his will power, the brunette closes the menu screen. It sure did get in the way of his view of what was going on around him.

"Well, I think we rested enough. Let's get going!" Lloyd pumps his fist towards the sky, hearing his younger friends chorus their agreement.

Heading off again, they finally reached Martel Temple. Similar to the past encounter with the desians, the two groups engaged in combat.

"Don't think we'll let you get away with this desians!" The brunette shouts, both wooden blades drawn. The desians just smirk and laugh. Shaking his head, Lloyd cleared his mind from the questions that were popping up. He didn't have time to be distracted.

Rolling away from a slice at his head, he charges his enemy and knocks the guy out pretty quickly. Eyes shifting to the real threat, he muffled his confusion.

Why was the guy just standing there with his arms crossed? Lloyd scowled, unsure if he should rush the guy or not. He could, but wouldn't that force the guy into combat, thus resulting in a situation where the red clad swordsman will be pushed to his death by cliff again? Or some other horrible death?

Lloyd deflects a sword aimed at Genis. Surprisingly, the teens were doing better than their first attempt. By a slim margin that is.

After minutes of battle, the leader desian gave a curt nod to one of his remaining underlings. Both Genis and Colette were startled by the gigantic desian that came from within the temple. This was not Lloyd's day.

**(A/N: I'm not that great at battle scenes... but if you'd like to see me attempt them after this chapter, do say so. If not, well, I'll make the battle scenes shorter.)**

The three teens engaged in combat once more, although they were quite worn out from their fight with the other desians.

"Dieeeeeeeeee..." Vidaar (as the other desians called him) growls as he charges straight for Genis. The said boy yelps as he jumps out of the giant guy's mace.

"Genis, Colette - get back! I'll take this guy on! Support me here!" Lloyd shouts, taking the offensive by releasing a 'demon fang'. The attack ripped quickly from its release point of the brunette's blade, scoring the ground with scratches as it put a somewhat deep cut on Vidaar's left calf.

As the his two younger friends go to the back lines, Lloyd take the front. Barely dodging the heavy iron mace by a hair, he swipes both wooden blades at the giant desian's torso, but due to using a wooden weapon on iron armor, he didn't break past to deal any external damage. He hoped that the impact would somehow injure the desian internally, though that would be unlikely seeing that the desian snickered at Lloyd's attempt to hurt him.

"Damn!" The red clad boy stumbles to the ground due to the counter Vidaar executes and has to roll out the way unless he want's a squished head. He hears Genis call out 'fireball' while Colette uses 'ray thrust'. Vidaar guards, but leaves his back open. An opportunity!

Suddenly, Lloyd feels a short surge of energy from within and feels his body being propelled forward.

"Take this - SONIC THRUST!"

**NEW TECHNIQUE LEARNED: SONIC THRUST**

Lloyd ignores the text as it quickly fades away. Instead, he focuses on the technique he just used. There was something about that technique that made it stronger than a regular trust, but Lloyd didn't have time to think about that. How in the world did he come up with the name? Or why did his body move on its own?

Rather - his accuracy is pretty bad. How did he even miss the center when he was directly behind the guy? He damaged the bigger desian's side and the wound looked quite deep. At least that was better than nothing.

"Stupid kids! Let's see how you handle this!" Vidaar, after back hand slapping Lloyd back to his friends, takes out an item and uses on himself.

"Lloyd, watch out! That's a power up that increases the user's ability to use more power!" Genis cries, still casting another spell. How Genis can talk while casting a spell, Lloyd would never know.

"What should we do? If that's the case, I'll be taken out in an instant!"

"I can try to keep him away using pow hammer!" Colette says as she takes out a red hammer out of nowhere.

"Y-yeah. Try that."

Once more, Lloyd darts forward and releases another demon fang. He'd need to stay pretty far until he comes up with a plan to beat the oaf.

His friends continue to support him with their long range attacks: Fireball (from Genis) and Pow hammer (from Colette).

"Isn't there a way I can check how everyone is doing? Like a freaking floating box thing to tell me how everyone's holding up? That would _really _be good now!" Lloyd growls as he finds himself retreating after receiving a heavy blow to the shoulder, thus rendering his left arm useless.

**You have completed an achievement! Battle status screen unlocked.**

"DAMMIT DON'T BLOCK MY VIEW I CAN'T S- AAAAAHHHHH!"

Lloyd promptly flies and tumbles across the ground and twitches at his friends feet. Damn those golden words, always distracting him.

"LLOYD!"

"Oh no! Are you okay?"

The brunette coughs up blood and, now taking a look at the floating screens, sees his status. Whatever HP is, it must be related to how beaten up Lloyd is, as the number there is very small and red. Great. Lloyd's going to bleed to death. Well - at least he learned what not to do in battle. Like pull up screens. And what HP is.

The three teens go silent and stare in horror as Vidaar now towers over them and smirks.

"So long!" The teens bring up their arms to guard themselves, even if it won't really do anything to stop what is coming.

"GUAAAAAAAH!"

Lloyd whips his head up (albeit a bit too fast thus hurting his neck) and sees the giant desian _flying_ back to the other side of the field. Auburn hair is visible and a man wearing purple stands before the group.

"W-who are you?"

The man gives Lloyd a short glance before looking back to the enemy.

"Get out of the way."

"Wow, you're sooo polite." Lloyd grumbles as he staggers to his feet. He takes out a few apple gels to fix up his wounds and watch how the purple guy will deal with an enemy such as Vidaar.

As quickly as he came, the purple haired man defeats Vidaar with ease.

"Wow!" Colette says, looking amazed.

"This guy's strong!" Genis says with slight awe.

"Yeah - I guess so." Lloyd feels himself murmur, a little irritated at being outdone by some stranger, but acknowledges the awe he also feels.

"Are you alright?" The man says as he turns to the teens, but what catches the red clad swordsman's eye is the glint on his hand. An exsphere?

"Yes! Thanks Mr. Purple Swordsman!" Colette chirps, but then rushes to see how her grandmother is doing. "Grandmother!"

Meanwhile, Lloyd stares at the red head guy who goes to join Colette and Phaidra.

"It seems there are monsters in the temple, but the priest have all died when the desians attacked..."

"Then I'll take on the job of protecting Colette!" Lloyd says as he and Genis join the other three.

"Lloyd? I'd feel uneasy if only you went."

"Your name is Lloyd?" The older man says with a tone Lloyd can't pin point.

"Yeah - but what's it to you?" The teen has a short staring contest with the older man, but he looks to Phaidra.

"I am Kratos. If you can pay me, I will take the job of protecting the chosen."

"It seems as if I have little choice."

This Kratos turns back to Lloyd and says...

"Lloyd, be a good boy and stay here."

Quite taken aback, Lloyd would've snapped at the man but decided that he shouldn't let his temper get the best of him.

"Okay." The man seems... relieved? "I'll follow you on my own then." Kratos then sighs with what sounds like irritation and face palms.

"Fine - do as you like."

"Come on Genis!"

"Wait - I'm coming too?"

"This isn't a field trip you know."

With that the group goes to enter the temple, but not before...

**Kratos Aurion has joined the party!**

"What's up with all the sudden appearances of those..."

"Did you say something Lloyd?"

"Uh - no. Nothing. Let's go."

...

...

...

Once in the temple, Lloyd sighs at the familiarity of the place, knowing he spend his last journey here walking around for a few hours. While the others chattered, Lloyd went to opening the menu screen. He's curious about this Kratos person. Maybe he could compare their stats to see where he should get to to be as strong as he is, not that he'd ever admit it out loud.

Once opened, the first thing he notices is that all of Kratos' stats are in a different color than everyone else's. Strange. He goes to the status option and goes to Kratos' profile and once again, everything is in a different color. Why?

Raising an eyebrow, Lloyd taps the ATK text. He hears an error sound and sees a new group of text pop up.

"Let's see..."

**Locked! Must complete Side Quest #57.**

Wait - what? Side quest? He tries tapping another stat.

**Locked! Must complete Side Quest #57.**

Damn.

**Locked! Must complete Side Quest #57.**

******Locked! Must complete Side Quest #57.**

**Locked! Must complete Side Quest #57.**

******Locked! Must complete Side Quest #57.**

What gives?

What is Side Quest #57? Why does he have to do that? Why does he even have_ Side Quests_? Never mind that... he'll figure that out later. It was only then he noticed a 'Show growth' amount in the menu. What's that?

**Locked! Must complete task '_Meet with the spirit at the tree'_.**

...

Maybe Lloyd really should read that manual.

"Lloyd!"

"Huh wha-?"

"Come on! We're going now!" Colette says as she points to one direction of the temple. The side with a dead end.

"Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Kratos says.

"Are you sure that's the correct way?"

Silence.

"Lloyd - I'm sure Colette knows where she's going. She's been here before!" Genis laughs.

"I still think we should check out the other route." Lloyd says, gesturing towards the door that they need to open with the sorcerer's ring. Hopefully they wouldn't get lost again and waste time.

...

...

...

This time's journeying was much like Lloyd's last time in the temple, despite his hope they could go through faster. They went to the door to see it and then went to look for the sorcerer's ring. Somehow, they ended up back tracking after going to the dead end again. By the time they got to the room with the golem, Lloyd was getting exhausted from all the fighting they had to do. It was much more difficult now that they only had four people doing the fighting.

Lloyd gazes with the others to look at the sorcerer's ring.

"So how are we going to get it?" Lloyd says, despite knowing how the others might respond.

"Well, maybe there's a puzzle we have to solve." Genis says

"Hey Colette- is that-" Lloyd turns but pales.

Talk about deja vu.

"Watch out!" Kratos says, quickly blocking the blond haired girl who is curiously looking at a giant rock monster.

- 10 minutes later -

"Geez Colette. You need to be more careful!" Genis sighs, appearing less panic than he did a while ago.

"Heheh. Sorry about t- wah!" Colette trips and pushes the block-that-was-a-golem into the square hole in the ground. Lloyd made sure to stay away from Colette for safety precautions.

"Whoops!"

Lloyd notices both Genis and Kratos have an expression as if they found something out.

"I see..."

"That's it!"

Another Golem appears and they repeat their 10 minutes of fighting with it. This time, when the cube appeared, Genis pushed the block in a different hole.

"One more should do it." He says, while looking to Kratos for confirmation. The older male nods.

"One more what?"

"You'll see." Genis says as the group enters another battle.

Lloyd sighs as he finally takes notice of the text that tell him about their battle results. He didn't see that before.

**Level up!**

**Level up!**

**Level up!**

Whoa! How in the world did he **NOT **see or hear that? Maybe he was just too distracted to notice...

Popping open the menu screen, he looks for whatever may look somewhat like 'level up' and spots... LVL. So that's what it was... Looking at each of their levels, he reads:

_LLoyd - LVL 7_

_Colette - LVL 5_

_Genis - LVL 6_

_Kratos - LVL 8 (130)_

Why does Kratos have a 130 in parenthesis...? Lloyd has a feeling that it has some significance but can't place where. Maybe it's his max level? But why doesn't anyone else have that? Awfully suspicious if you ask Lloyd.

Ugh. He hates how complex this menu thing is.

Well, nothing he can do at the moment.

After going down the stairs, they engage in combat again with a group of monsters, although this time...

"What's this?" Genis says, holding up a strange glowing stone. "It has some strange scribbles on it..."

"Hey - can I take a look at that?" Lloyd quickly says.

"Uh... sure." The brunette shrugs off the mage's comment. Something about '_Lloyd better not start becoming like Raine..._'

On the stone, it reads:

_Memory Gem_

Okay.

What does it _do_?

Lloyd scoffs. Maybe it'll remember the homework problem answers and give it to him when he has a homework quiz. Or maybe it'll refine his memory so he doesn't have to pay attention in class, not that he pays attention anyway.

"Should I try eating it? It says it's a memory gem." Lloyd asks to no one in particular.

"I advise you against eating unidentified objects. It'd be a waste of mana if I have to heal you."

"I gotta agree with Kratos. For all we know, it'll make you sick. How are you going to protect Colette if you can't protect yourself?"

"I'll protect you if you get sick!" Colette says with a flare of determination in her eyes.

"Okay, okay! I won't try to eat it. I was just asking. Geez."

In a few steps, the group notices some sort of magic thing carved into the ground.

"It looks like some sort of magic circle?"

"It appears so but I wonder why there's one here. I can feel some sort of magic on it but I don't know what it's for."

Lloyd recognizes the 'scribbles' on the ground. He reads:

_"One who enters the game_

_take the gem and aim_

_then recite the command's name."_

"Guys! I think it has something to do with this memory gem thing."

"So what does the thing on the ground say?" Genis asks before anyone else has the chance to ask how he can read what the 'scribbles' say.

Lloyd reads the text on the ground.

"Game?"

"Uh- yeah. I don't know what that means." The dual swordsman lies quite obviously.

"Okaaay... well. You probably have to put the memory gem on the circle. I'm not sure what the last one means though." The silver haired mage says, shaking his head.

Lloyd throws the memory gem on part of the circle, which suddenly lights up. The parts that are etched onto the ground glow with the same white-ish light.

"Whoa - that's cool."

The others inspect the circle as Lloyd furrows his brows.

Recite the command's name?

What does that mean?

Sighing, he takes out his last resort: the game manual.

After many minutes of flipping and quick skimming (something Lloyd learned to do well after having to BS his answers for homework), he finds memory gem in the book.

_Memory gem - a magically enchanted gem used solely for activating the save circle. Game users are expected to have trouble in their journey, thus giving them the popular option of saving. The memory circle appears as below._

Recognizing the picture, Lloyd continues.

_The circle reads: "One who enters the game take the gem and aim then recites the command's name." It refers to you, the player of the game. The gem is the memory gem. You must throw it onto the memory circle. If you miss, the gem may crack and you will be unable to save. If that has already happen, then it may be assumed that you did not read the manual._

_The command that is being referred here is either Save or Load. This will enable you to save or load your progress in the game. You must be standing on the memory circle._

Seeing no further importance with whatever else the manual says, Lloyd puts it away in his invisible bag. He has no time to be reading it anyway. He'll wing it as he always done.

Stepping into the circle, it glows.

"SAVE!"

Light flashes and Lloyd is suddenly surrounded by screens, all which are mainly empty. The area is glowing blue and white blobs of light float around. The others seem to be blinded by all of it.

"Uhh. I guess I just touch one."

He touches the third one from the top.

Various information suddenly appear on the screen he touched, such as today's date, the amount of gald he has, who is with him, etc. etc.

He closes the screen and the lights flicker, sending out one more blinding flash before everything returns to normal.

"W-what the heck was that!" The small elf yells as he rubs his eyes.

"..." The purple mercenary has an expression on his face that suggests concern and something else Lloyd can't guess.

"Okay! Let's get that sorcerer's ring!" Lloyd grins with anticipation, pulling Colette with him. She simply giggles.

"...is it me or is there something seriously strange with Lloyd?" Genis says as he follows after the two other teens.

"..."

At the tops of the stairs, the four surround the metal contraption.

Floating above is the sorcerer's ring.

**- Chapter Four END -**

A/N: Amg - I'm so sorry for the sucky cut off. With that, Lloyd has finally gotten the option to save his progress! Yay! At least now we don't have to keep going through Lloyd going to school then to the temple. Gasp! Lloyd actually _survived _a chapter without dying. Will he next chapter though? Sorry if the battle scene wasn't that interesting. I had a relatively hard time writing after that - I hope it wasn't too boring.

Review? If you have a question, I'll try to answer it in a way that won't spoil what I have planned for the future.


	5. Chapter 5: Be my Confidant

Hey guys! I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter! So far, things are looking better (well, in moving on with the plot). At least Lloyd won't be stuck since he's got the save option now!

Thanks for the review guys! (I'll try to respond to every review with some comments from now on!)

**LovelyLorelei: Hahah – I also found amusement when writing about Lloyd's stats and the whole side quest thing. It wouldn't be fun if Lloyd got to access everything from the beginning now would it? xD And yes – you may see more interactions when Lloyd is fiddling with the menu screen nobody can see. More insanity!**

**Sayla Ragnarok: Yes, it would be. You'll see in the future if Kratos had a similar experience with the game setup or not. I hope it'll be a pleasant surprise as well as enjoyable (well, not quite for Kratos that is)!**

**Emeraldpichu: I'm glad that it hasn't been going downhill (and I hope it doesn't). I'll try to update more often but I don't know if I can guarantee that I will update a lot (I hope it will be weekly but I'm not sure about that). As for your question, yes – as Lloyd pays more attention to the skills part, he will be able to gain skills he wouldn't have in the game. I actually have a lot of things planned out, but a moderate bulk of it won't even appear in this story. It would have to appear in a drabble series I'm planning on writing after this story is finished (misadventures in new game plus). I can assure you that Lloyd will learn skills (such as ones Kratos teaches him because he can). I hope that answers your question ^^**

**Eclipse the Dragonoid: I'm glad that you found it funny ^^ Hopefully you'll find more laughs in the later chapters as well.**

Here's to the new chapter and early-ish update! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Five: Be my Confidant!

"This is the sorcerer's ring?" Lloyd found himself asking picking the ring from its place above the metal contraption. It is about the size of the standard rings, or what Lloyd thought was standard, in the world. Intricate designs were etched onto the sides that looked like fancy writing. "I wonder what it says…"

Genis and Colette both peer at the ring that Lloyd brought up.

"Well, it's definitely not that weird language only you can understand…." The young elf says offhandedly, soon receiving an offended glance from the older brunette. "Just saying."

"Oh! I know this! It's angelic!" Colette chirps happily. She takes the ring from the dual swordsman and inspects it. "It's a bit dark here so I'll have to read it to you guys once we get somewhere brighter."

Shrugging, Lloyd insists that the blond haired girl wears the ring and tests it out. He's very curious to see what in the world it does. Maybe it brings up a screen like the menu screen? Or maybe it shoots a beam of light? Oh oh – maybe it teleports them! That would be cool!

"Hey, why don't you test it out now?" Lloyd comments, which the other two teens agree to. "Do you know what it does?"

"Actually… no. The priest never allowed me to use it for some reason. I wonder why."

"How do you think they activate it?" Genis inquires, face contorted with curiosity and concentration.

"Ummm…."

Colette taps on the ring but nothing happens.

"Maybe it requires some spoken command?" Lloyd offers, but isn't too sure that speaking to the ring would do anything.

"If only Colette could read what the ring had written on it… maybe it would have instructions." The blue clad mage sighs, shaking his head as he makes a shrugging motion.

The teens sigh as they begin making their way back, seeing that Kratos was beckoning them to follow.

"Umm… Mr. Mercenary Kratos!"

"Yes, Chosen One?"

"Do you know how to work the sorcerer's ring?"

"…would you allow me to examine it?"

Colette skips past Genis and Lloyd and hands the purple clad swordsman the ring. After a brief examination, he brings his hand up (the one with the ring) and closes his hand so it's a fist. The ring flashes and a ball of fire shoots out.

"W-whoa! That's cool!" Lloyd grins.

"Don't get bored with it later Lloyd…" Genis comments soon after, smiling with humor.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Colette, why don't you try it too?"

"Okay!"

She copies what Kratos had done a few moments earlier and fires a small ball of fire.

"Hey, just wondering, but does it hurt to get hit by it?" Lloyd says, finding his inner scholar awaken (just by a little, little, little bit).

"I'm pretty sure it'd hurt. Based on the energy it is letting off in the form of heat energy, it most likely can be assumed that it would have painful effects. If the concentration of mana were lower and more dispersed, then it shouldn't leave any injuries." Genis responds, hand on chin as the gears in his head turn (not that it wasn't earlier, or even before that).

"You're starting to sound like the professor…"

"Never mind that! I'm just answering your question. Geez."

"Well, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt _too_ much right? Colette, try hitting me with it! I want to see how powerful it is!"

"The sorcerer's ring is not a toy."

"Yeah yeah Kratos. I'm just finding out how powerful it is!"

"Lloyd…"

"It's alright Colette! I'll be fine! If it's just like the other shots we've seen earlier, then it shouldn't be too harmful!"

"Am I the only one that thinks it's logical to try it out on a monster…?" Genis mumbles as he steps away from Lloyd, who currently has his arms stretched out in a stance that says 'hit me with your best shot!'

"Here goes…"

Colette copies the motion she does earlier, but this time… it was different. Promptly slipping on nothing (or the floor as some would say), she tumbles and clenches her fist on the ring.

The blast was (somehow) stronger than the previous ones they tried out, which knocked Lloyd backwards while lighting him up in fire.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" He stumbles backwards and falls, but this time, he was prepared for any stumbles off edges! He grabbed the stony floor, the friction causing his hands to burn, but he didn't care. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS ALREADY ON FIRE!

"LLOYD! OH MY GODDESS I'MSOSORRYFORTHAT!"

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT LLOYD! GRAB MY HAND!" Genis yells as he dives for the edge, seeing that the stone was shifting and Lloyd's grip was slipping.

"BUT YOU'LL CATCH ON FIRE!"

"HURRY UP BEFORE YOU FALL AND DIE! FIRE WON'T KILL ME! GRAVITY WILL KILL YOU!"

"OKAY!"

Lloyd reached up with one hand while the other one held his whole body weight. Not the best idea he had, but hey, he had no time to think it through, nor did he even plan on thinking it through as the fire was cooking him.

Genis grabbed the older boy with both hands and began to pull upwards, but Lloyd's other hand lost its grip on the ground and now the poor poor mage had to hold up Lloyds ENTIRE weight.

What happen next would be quite obvious since Genis didn't work out much – scratch out much – AT ALL.

As soon as Lloyd lost his grip, his weight (which was waaaay too heavy for a weak, 12 year old mage named Genis) caused the younger boy to be pulled of the edge with him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"LLOYDYOUIDIOTWHYDIDYOUEVENSUGGESTTHATCOLETTESHOUL DHITYOUWITHTHEDANGRING?"

"LLOYD! GENIS!"

Lloyd grimaces as they continue to fall.

"It's getting pretty dark down here."

"You don't say. In fact- WHY AREN'T YOU PANICKING?"

"Good point. AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

They continued to fall for another five minutes.

"Dude – this is so anticlimactic. We're still falling. It's been, what, an _hour_ already?"

"Lloyd. It's been only five minutes."

"Well… HOW DEEP IS THIS FREAKING FLOOR? I THOUGHT WE'D SPLAT FIVE MINUTES AGO!"

"I DON'T KNOW! WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME? I DON'T DIVE OFF CLIFFS FOR FUN!"

"Maybe I should just cut my head off so it's done with…"

"Ugh – don't do that! At least, if you're going to do that, go in some corner where I won't see it."

"Fine… but I don't know how you'll even see it when it's this dark."

"Fine – not see but _hear_. I'm going to be scarred forever."

"Right."

They continue to fall for another 5 minutes before they actually 'splat.'

…

…

…

"Ugh. I hope I don't have to get used to falling off high areas…" the brunette comments as he brings himself to his feet. "In fact... WHAT'S UP WITH ME FALLING OFF OF PLACES?"

Sighing, he makes his way to the golden words of doom and raises an eyebrow at the new addition:

Continue.

"What's this?" Feeling as if it had some importance, he shrugs it off. He'll see what happens next. Tapping on the floating text, he's surrounded by the familiar light and floating screens.

Many blank screens floated around, but the third one from the top had a log.

"OH! That's right..." He 'saved' a file. Right.

"Let's do this again..."

...

...

...

The world flashes and blinds everyone who is in the room.

"ACK! What the heck?"

"Heya Genis. What were we doing again?"

"You forgot already? We're getting the sorcerer's ring!"

Right. He better make a log before he forgets...

"Okay! Let's do this!"

Once more, the group goes to pick up the sorcerer's ring, but this time, Lloyd thought better than to give it to Colette. Although it wasn't her fault that he died, he had a feeling another accident was bound to happen, thus resulting him in dying AGAIN. He did feel a little sorry for Genis, but the boy probably wouldn't remember the feeling. Still... it sucks to die. Really.

The group retraces their steps and Lloyd steps back onto the memory circle. He never will know when he'll get killed. Even the most unexpected events happen. He sighs.

"When in doubt... SAVE!"

Lloyd blinds everyone in his party and saves over a new log. Oops.

"What the heck Lloyd! Must you do that?"

"Yeah. It's necessary!"

"Okay... whatever. Let's get out of here."

Shrugging, Lloyd follows the others as they travel past another golem (which thankfully didn't see them), then went back to the door they saw that was blocked by that weird barrier thing.

"So the sorcerer's ring should be able to get rid of this right?"

"Yup."

Raising his arm, the dual swordsman shot a ball of fire from the ring which disintegrated the obstacle.

The group then found a warp. Colette and Kratos entered first, then Genis went. Lloyd, never going through a warp before, grinned. He bets this is going to be fun and cool.

Stepping on the warp, he feels himself being deconstructed and pulled via some force. It only took a few seconds, but he was reconstructed in another room. Whoa - what a strange feeling. But... IT WAS SO COOL.

Colette was already at the alter, praying. The silver haired mage motioned for Lloyd to hurry up, which he did. Taking his place next to Genis, he stares up in awe as an _angel_ comes down from the hole on the roof. White feathers fluttered to the floor as a blond man clad in teal floats down towards the alter.

"An angel..."

Taking in the sight before him, Lloyd turned his attention back to his friend who is the chosen. This angel introduced himself as Remiel and bestowed Colette a red crystal - the cruxis crystal. It glistened and shone a deep crimson as it floated towards the white clad female, soon attaching itself. It was rimmed with some sort of golden material.

Upon completion, the angel motioned towards the window, which the group then saw the Tower of Salvation.

"That's the Tower of Salvation...?" Once again, the group was captured in a trance of awe.

"Head for the desert. There I will await for you at the seal of fire."

The angel began floating off, but Colette asked him to wait.

"Are you... are you really my...?"

"I will see you at the next seal, my daughter, Colette."

"You really are my father...?"

Lloyd remained silent as the angel turned into a ball of light and zipped off into the sky, scattering feathers around the room.

"Wow Colette! So the rumors about your father being angel is true?" Genis says. The two entered a soft conversation before Kratos intervened.

"Chosen One, I shall escort you back to the village."

"Ah- I guess I'll see you two later then!" She nods at Genis then Lloyd as the two warp off ahead of them again.

"..."

"Hey Lloyd."

"Yeah?"

"Did you remember to finish Colette's birthday present?"

DAMN IT.

"I take that silence as a no then."

"Uhh... I'll-"

"- finish it by tonight? You do know that she'll be leaving soon! You better stop procrastinating!"

"Don't worry about it! I'll get it done by tomorrow!"

"... right. Let's get out of here."

The two boys warped back and began making their way out of the temple. As they exited, Lloyd began pondering about the game and what 'theories' he had at the moment since it'd take them a few hours to get back to Iselia.

First of all, he knows for a fact (well, he thinks so) that a new game always starts him off on the day of the oracle. Alright. Though, if he does something different, then something else happens... he'd have to confirm that later.

Next, there's a save option which allows him to 'save' what he did prior to that save. So if he did something different and saved it, then that event will remain with the save file? At least he knows he can continue now instead of repeating everything again and again. Man, he'd be so bored of hearing the same words every time.

Then - WAIT! HE FORGOT TO SAVE!

"Hey Genis- can we go back to the temple? I need to do something!"

"What? But we're going to meet Colette in a few hours!"

"I really need to go and do something there! Come on!"

"Like what?"

Darn. What should he say? Awww, screw it already.

"I need to save."

"..."

"I need to-"

"I heard you! Save? Lloyd, are you okay? You've been off since the beginning of today."

"I'm fine! I trust you so I'll tell you what's going on. I needed someone to talk to anyway." Before he actually becomes insane from trying to do this alone.

Genis raises his eyebrow but sighs as he soon follows after Lloyd who is jogging back up the stairs to Martel Temple.

...

...

...

"So... when are you going to tell me what you had in mind?" The silver haired mage asks for the tenth time, which Lloyd decided not to respond to for the tenth time.

"I'll tell you after I save."

After a blinding flash of light and saving, Lloyd turns to Genis.

"I'm playing a game."

The shorter male simply stares at Lloyd.

"I'm serious. It's not by my choice! That manual thing I showed you and this circle thing? They're part of the game!"

"... I better get Raine to check on you."

"Genis!"

"I'm just kidding! Okay - I believe you. So what exactly put you in this game?"

"I- I really don't know. It's strange really. I have this thing called a menu screen - I can see all these different things, but I don't think anyone else can see it but me."

"Uh huh..."

"Yeah. I think I told you I needed to talk to you about this.

"Eh? When?"

"Oh wait... that was before Colette..."

"Huh? Before Colette what?"

"Hmm... well, I'll tell you on the way to Iselia."

The two boys, once more, went to exit the temple. As they saw the exit, they also saw a familiar silver haired teacher.

"P-professor!"

"Lloyd? Genis? What are you doing here?"

Both teens take a step back as Raine's eyes glint with danger.

Then Lloyd saw something he wish he hadn't.

"Please Raine! I'm sorry!" Genis yelps as she spanks him. He crumples to the cold, moss covered ground groaning as the female elf drops him. "You're next Lloyd."

"WHA-?"

"You heard me!"

He takes another step back.

A baaaaad mistake.

Since the professor couldn't grab him, she swung her leg out and aimed to kick him, but, due to him stepping back, her target moved...

Lloyd rolls on the ground holding in color full language that would probably make him get in more trouble.

"You have my sympathy..." Genis says quietly as Raine continues to rant about the dangers they could've put themselves through, etc. etc.

10 minutes later...

"So what're you doing here?" Lloyd asks, still recovering.

"I got permission to enter and research the temple." The teacher says, eyes gleaming and seeming less focused.

"Uhh... okay. But I thought you were going to come back to class..." Lloyd began but quickly shuts up due to the evil eye he got from Raine and the elbow he got from Genis.

Sighing, Raine tells them to go back to Iselia. Surely Colette would be waiting for them. She heads off in another direction.

"Genis... why is your sister so violent?"

"Don't ask me."

The boys sigh as they go to leave the temple.

"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MARVELOUS!"

Lloyd promptly jumps and quickly glances to Genis.

"What the heck was _that_?"

"Idon'tknowhowaboutwegetoutofhere?"

"...okaaay. Don't tell me then."

"Didn't plan to."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They leave in silence as the laughter gets louder and more crazy.

...

...

...

Lloyd stares off into space as they continue walking in the field.

"Lloyd. When are you going to tell me about your problems?"

"Oh right. Well, there was this manual I got that pretty much explains a bunch of the stuff I need to know."

"Let me guess... you didn't read it."

"Yup."

"Okay... so what do you want me to do about this? I can't really help you with anything..." Genis replies, but he still has a skeptical look.

"I know that. I just need someone to talk to... you know..."

"Right."

"So apparently everything I get disappears into some invisible bag. Unlike you or Colette, I'm not carrying a bag."

"Huh? You're not?"

"Yeah! See?"

"Weird... but I'm sure that things can't just disappear!"

"It doesn't! It goes in the menu bag thingy!"

"Okay... how about you just tell me things and I'll listen..."

"Sure."

Knowing it would be hard to talk about the game, the brunette opens the menu screen and starts chatting about the screens he already took a look at. He lists off everything he knew and thought about, like why he couldn't open certain screens and why did Kratos' stats look so funky. He felt like he was being redundant with how confused he was, but he couldn't help it.

Genis was the only person he felt would actually listen to him, no offense to Colette, Raine or his dad for that matter. Colette, he felt, wouldn't really help him with his problem and he didn't want to worry her anymore. He also didn't want to tell her about his past two incidents where she got him killed. Nor did he want to tell her about how he died. The professor... well... he wasn't sure what he should tell her. She kinda scares him. And his dad. He didn't need to worry the dwarf anymore. That left only Genis.

Besides, he's best friends with Genis. He felt he could tell him anything, even if he got snarky responses from the elf.

Speaking of the elf, his stamina is really low! Why didn't he say anything?

"Hey, you're tired. Let's stop for now."

"Huh? Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I got some thinking to do."

"Uh... me too... yeah."

The two settled down at a set of rocks.

Now Lloyd had time to further his exploration of that battle menu thing that almost got him killed. Opening the menu screen, the searched through the different options that were there, yet the battle menu wasn't there. Strange.

With an irritated growl, he thinks what else he could possibly do to open it.

Oh! That's right! Using his 'will power,' Lloyd pulls up the battle menu (he decided to call it the quick menu (QM)). No longer seeing the need to keep the main menu (MM) open, he closes it and takes a look at what the screen says.

It showed the status of Genis and him.

Curiously, there is also two tiny screens hidden to the side.

Swiping them open, Lloyd decides to take a look at what each one is. It's going to take a while before Genis' stamina goes to 80%. A long while.

First is the screen labeled 'Items'. Apparently it is a simplified version of the MM Item screen. Interesting.

The items appeared as a list. Categories? At the end of each name were arrowheads. Tapping on the first category, the text shifted over and a new set of text took the previous one's place. Ooh, cool. Tapping on an item, specifically an apple gel, the area near Lloyd's hand glows and an apple gel _materializes. _Funky stuff.

This time Lloyd tapped on the name and kept his hand there, pondering if he really should try to take another one out. Instead, an icon of the apple gel appeared!

"Whoa... that's awesome..."

Tapping on the icon, apple gels began materializing and falling to the ground. Strange shit.

"Lloyd! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Huh wha-?"

"You're dropping the supplies on the ground!"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I was, uhh, checking something. Yeah."

"...right..."

Turning his attention back onto the Item QM, Lloyd tries grabbing the apple gel icon, then puts it back into the main screen. It disappears. Weird stuff indeed.

As he collects the apple gels, he notes how they glow when he taps on them. Were they being added back into the item menu thingy?

Shaking his head, he minimizes the item QM. Next is... the screen called 'Inventory.' He has yet to explore that one, but he could already guess what it's going to have in it. Opening the menu, he notes how it is formatted just like the item QM, set in lists of categories, then subcategories, then finally the items themselves.

As he explored the inventory QM, he opened the weapons section. Hey, the item 'Wooden Swords'... he glanced at his waists and indeed... the two swords weren't there. He must've unequipped them some time ago...? Weird. Lloyd went to take out the swords but accidentally swiped his fingers pretty fast across the name.

Just like the previous time, there was a glow, except the swords shot out from it as it materialized in the direction Lloyd swiped towards. Right at Genis.

"ACK! WHAT THE HECK LLOYD! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?"

"Agh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I didn't even know it would do that!"

"Geez... Just be careful next time..."

"I'm sorry about that!"

Sighing, Lloyd looks back at the menu and sees that the weapon subcategory dual swords is empty. So when the stock gets to zero, it disappears from the menu... The brunette retrieved his swords, still pondering about how that worked. He swiped his hands over other menus, but they didn't do THAT. Wait... maybe because it's on the item section and is the quick menu that he has different options? He'd better learn more about this...

Re-sheathing his swords, Lloyd experiments with a different item. Swiping his hand in the motion he wants the item to fly, he watches. A life bottle hurls at a tree and breaks. So apparently he can throw items at people from the quick menu...

Now for the final one... the status QM.

It pretty much showed their status (if they were poisoned or not), HP, TP, and Stamina. That would be good to have open in battles! He found that he could separate each of their profiles and decided to have them float to his upper right hand side. He'd keep this one open at all times so he knows everyone's status. Who knows when someone is feeling sick or not.

This QM thing is pretty good. At least he wouldn't have all those screens blocking his view! The QM screens were more transparent and the transition between each action are faster. They also are simpler and easier to navigate. Nice.

Glancing to their stamina, he decides they had enough rest.

"Ready to go Genis?"

"Yeah. Wait, why don't I cook something? It's around lunch time."

"Great! Oh, wait, let me check something."

"The menu screen?"

"Yup. Hold on..."

Lloyd pin points what he was looking for: the 'Cooking' screen. Opening it, he takes a quick glance and sees that the only recipe his party knows is 'Sandwich'. Also, it shows that Genis is the better cool. By a mile. After checking it out for a minute, he nods towards the younger male.

"Okay! It says it should take you around 10 minutes to make the sandwiches. Too bad we don't have some of the ingredients you would use."

"Yeah - you're right. Let's go over there."

While the mage prepared their meal, Lloyd decided to take a further look at the cooking section, then take a glance at the inventory, the status, and the strategy sections. Might as well since they had 10 minutes to burn.

The inventory one was just like the item screen. It sorted items that weren't listed under 'items' and showed recently obtained things. (A/N: Think game inventory). The status screen pretty much shows a person's element, elemental resistance, any status effects, how he or she is feeling, and this thing listed as other. Cooking had an interesting set up, showing if a person knew the recipe, how good he or she is at making it, the ingredients used, stuff like that. Not taking much interest in those sections, Lloyd turned his attention to the strategy section.

Opening it, he noticed that it was set up showing an list of question marks and a few names. Tapping on one of the names, he finds that it shows an image of the 'monster' and what he knows about it. A lot of the information had question marks on it. Thinking a little harder on that, he realizes he would need to use the magic lens to find out more about the enemy. Great... more studying OUTSIDE of school. He frowns at the thought.

"Hey Lloyd, I finished making the- WAAAH!"

"What's wrong!" The red clad swordsman whirls around and sees that a mob of monsters have come out and were attacking the mage. A bunch of wolves. They looked REALLY hungry.

Oh shit.

...

...

...

"AAGGHGHGHHHHHHH!"

Once more, Lloyd finds himself rolling in the disgustingly beautiful, soft, disgustingly lush grass at the freaking tree.

Getting eaten alive was NOT pleasant.

No. Not at all.

The boy stopped rolling and lays on his stomach, sighing.

"Woooow. Of course I had to die right after Colette got her crystal thing... at least I saved."

Standing up, he glances around. The area seemed... different. Strange. It almost felt a bit colder and a bit creepier. Raising an eyebrow, he shrugs as he taps the continue text.

Maybe there was something else at the tree?

...

...

...

Once again, Lloyd has to quickly explain to Genis what he wanted to tell him since he, of course, didn't have the 'remember how you died and shit' thing going on. Finished with that, when they did see Raine, he made sure that she hit his stomach instead of somewhere else. Lloyd definitely made sure Genis didn't cook anything that would attract monsters. He concluded that being eaten alive was the WORST experience he has so far.

On the way to the village, Lloyd found that he could obtain memory gems as he fought monsters. With the many groups of beasts they fought, he managed to get 5 or 6 gems. Many of the other ones got broken when Lloyd or Genis fumbled with them.

By the time they got to Iselia, Lloyd felt that his younger friend was giving him strange looks. Maybe he shouldn't have summarized all he said last time.

A glimmer caught the brunette's attention.

"A memory circle!" Lloyd cheers, ever so glad that they existed. Damn - he wouldn't be a happy farmer if he had to do everything over again and again each time he died. He'd be pretty insane by then.

Enjoying the glow, he says...

"When in doubt... SAVE!"

Everyone becomes blind for a few seconds.

"Wooh. I hope I don't get paranoid about it..."

The pair of boys finally get to Colette's house and enter. Phaidra, the mayor, Colette and Kratos are all seated at the table.

"-Journey of regeneration."

"Hey, I'd like to go!" Lloyd says, but is quickly shot down by Kratos.

"You'd only get in the way."

"What did you-"

"Kratos is right. You're only a child and you'll slow down their progress." The mayor says, mumbling something about the brunette that the boy didn't quite catch.

Growling, Lloyd leaves with Genis, who also wanted to go but figured that he shouldn't say something.

"Please wait!"

Turning around, the red clad swordsman witnesses Colette trip on nothing again.

"What's wrong?"

"I just wanted to apologize. It would be nice if you could come, but the journey is filled with danger. I wouldn't want you or Genis to get hurt."

"Hey, we'll be fine!"

They conversed a bit longer before Colette re-entered her house.

"Well, it's time to get on home." Lloyd yawns, stretching his limbs he's so glad are not mutilated.

"Hey, can I walk with you?"

"Sure thing!"

"Let's stop by my house okay?"

"Mhmm."

30 minutes later...

"Hey Noishe!" The giant green and white dog whines as he nuzzles Lloyd. Helping Genis climb on top the dog, the three enter Iselia forest.

"Are you coming over to my house?" Lloyd asks, rather curious at the elf's sudden request to join Lloyd. Usually, Genis and Colette went together when they decide to hang out at Lloyd's place.

"Uh, sure! I have something to do."

"Mind telling me?"

"Maybe later..."

Shrugging, Lloyd takes in the forest. Usually, he'd take his time going home to enjoy the view and, well, nature. Somehow, Lloyd found himself popping open the MM to take a look at their levels.

_Lloyd - LVL 9_

_Genis - LVL 8_

Shrugging, he refocuses on the path to his house.

The human ranch was too close to home. Frowning, he hopes that the desians aren't lurking outside in front of the ranch. They'd definitely wouldn't want to confront any desian right now. Not after that episode at Martel Temple. He became more nervous as they came closer and closer to the human ranch. Occasional screams could be heard from the place.

Definitely not pleasant.

He sees the silver haired mage dismount the dog and runs ahead and stops.

"This is my stop."

"Wha- the human ranch?"

"...yeah."

"Didn't the villagers say to stay away from it?"

"I-I know. It's just that there's someone I need to see."

"Okay. I'll go with you."

"Huh?"

"I'm not letting you go alone. What if they see you?"

"Are you sure? If we're caught, the both of us will get in deep trouble!"

"Hey, that's what friends are for right?"

"Thanks Lloyd."

Grinning, Lloyd tells Noishe to go on ahead of them. Soon, the two boys make their way to the ranch...

...

...

...

"Lloyd, hurry, this way!" The brunette rolls as he leaps from another edge. He could hear Genis running in front of him. Many MANY curses could be heard behind him.

Hearing a whine, Lloyd sees Noishe running towards him.

"Noishe! The desians are chasing us. So far, they haven't seen Genis' face, but they will at this rate. Go and get Genis and bring him to our house! At this speed, I'm sure he's tired!" Lloyd says hurriedly. The dog whines in response, then runs ahead.

"...there he is...gawdy red...!"

"...Lord...don't let him...ugly red...!"

"...exsphere...annoyingly bright red!"

Lloyd growls with much irritation. Seriously - what's up with the 'red' label? How dare they insult his clothes! Dirk made it just for him (although the dwarf suggested a different color).

Quickly swerving around brambles and undergrowth, Lloyd decides to take off his trademark red clothing, soon tossing them into the stream to his left. He watched with much sadness as his favorite jacket and gloves are washed away. He also removes the shoes since you'd be able to spot them a mile away.

"Man... that was my 27th pair..."

Now running barefooted (since he forgot his socks), he 'unequipped' his swords and sheathes, which both glow and disappear. He's so thankful for the ability to do that.

Leaping over a bush, he dives into a hidden tunnel he made years ago. Knowing that Noishe probably took Genis a different route to his house while Lloyd led them in a different direction, Lloyd closes the entrance to the tunnel. It would be very difficult to see, and the desians would have to take off their armor if they considered going in, seeing that it was made for the size of a 12 year old. Now crawling through the cramp tunnel, Lloyd enters a bigger cavern that he somehow made years ago, then stands up.

Many other tunnels can be seen, but they lead to areas relatively far from home. Really far. Most of them led back to the outskirts of Iselia and the forest. Lloyd heard voices coming from behind and knew that they saw him go in. Growling, he takes his swords from his inventory and prompt destroys the way down. He seriously needs to deconstruct this tunnel. He repeats the process for the other holes and retreats to the last one. He'd have to cover them if the desians ever consider tracing where each one went. Well, maybe it didn't matter since they were much smaller than the hole he just came from. Only a very small child could fit through them. Or animals.

Exiting his little tunnel, he breaks the entrance. He rolls some relatively heavy rocks on top to make sure the desians don't try to climb up.

Noishe soon appeared with Genis, much to Lloyd's disdain.

"Noishe, I thought you were going to bring Genis to dad."

The dog whines in return.

"Well, nothing we can do about that now. They found were my old tunnel is. Or was since I destroyed it."

"I'm sorry Lloyd. I know I shouldn't have asked you to do that. They saw your face!"

"Don't worry about it. I got rid of the guys that saw my face."

"But..."

"I'm fine. You're fine. We'll be okay."

"I'm sorry."

"Just do my homework for me okay?"

"Hahah - sure thing."

Climbing onto Noishe, Lloyd sighs. He could only hope that the desians won't find their way to his house. Or go to Iselia.

...

...

...

Lloyd had to clean up in the pond near his house since he went through the underground tunnel. Dirt and other things were matted on his hair, skin and clothes. After telling Dirk that he lost another set of clothing, Lloyd got his 28th set from his giant basket of spares. Genis is currently cleaning up as well, although he'd have to wear the dwarven clothing Dirk makes for him since he didn't have a spare.

"Lloyd, will you even have time to work on Colette's present?"

"Uhh... yeah. I should have."

"I'll give her the cookies on the way back to Iselia. I gave you some earlier, but don't tell her about it, you hear?"

"Yeah, I know."

The two quickly cleaned up and went to Lloyd's room, which was still a mess.

"You seriously need to clean up. If Colette decides to come here before she leaves, then I doubt you'd want her to see _this_."

Nodding, Lloyd amazingly cleaned everything up very quickly. As he began working on his present, Genis began working on Lloyd's and his' homework. After a few hours of work, the necklace is almost complete. He'd just need to attach the jewel he bought: a sapphire. At the moment though, he decided he should ask his dad to make a keycrest for Marble. He did promise the younger boy after all.

Going down the wooden stairs, he finds Genis at the table, chatting with his dad.

"Hey dad!"

"What is it Lloyd?"

"I was wondering... could you make me a keycrest?"

"A keycrest? For what?"

"Well..."

Things spiraled out of control following the conversation Lloyd had with his dad. AKA Lloyd getting into a heated argument with his dad about exspheres, him mom, and what he shouldn't do. Like lying. After all, Dwarven Vow # 11, Lying is the first step down the path of thievery.

Then getting punched by Dirk.

Then flying towards the wall that promptly broke with ease since Dirk is very strong.

Then Lloyd tumbling into the stream and being soaked.

Then being seen by Colette, Raine and Kratos who just crossed the wooden bridge.

"Uh... hey. Let me guess... you guys all heard that just now?"

Silence.

"Ummm... I'll wait for you at the roof." Colette says in an awkward fashion, which Lloyd only nods to.

Genis walks over to Lloyd and helps him out the water.

"Thanks." Sighing, he sees Raine and Kratos go to stand somewhere near his house while Genis and Colette enter the building.

"Hey professor."

"Yes, Lloyd?"

"So you guys really are leaving tomorrow... I'd really like to go along."

"I know. Both you and Genis are really excited about it, but it will be dangerous. Please understand that Colette wouldn't be able to stand watching either of you get hurt while journeying."

"I know that. I'll see if I can change her mind about it though."

Raine smiles at Lloyd and puts a towel on him. Why she has it, Lloyd doesn't know.

He then sees Kratos standing near his mom's grave. Walking over, he gets the mercenary's attention.

"That's my mom's grave. I heard that the desians were the ones that killed her..." Lloyd trails, fighting down his anger and grief.

"I... see. Where is your father?"

"I... I don't really know. Maybe he died fighting the desians. Maybe he got killed trying to save mom. All that was left from my parents is this exsphere." Lloyd took off the bandages from his hand to show the mercenary. "Dad said that this is all mom had left."

"..."

"Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if my father is still alive. I never actually found out if he got killed, or if he's still out there looking for me. Dad is still my dad though. If my actual dad is still alive, I'd be happy to meet him. To know how mom was when she was alive. To know him better. Things like that."

Feeling sudden awkwardness at spilling part of his family history to a stranger he met THIS MORNING, he stutters, "Sorry, that was super awkward for you huh? Well, I gotta see Colette now!"

Zipping up the stairs and almost crashing into Genis, he steps outside.

"Hey Colette."

"Hey Lloyd. Tomorrow, I'll be leaving to go on the Journey of Regeneration."

"I see. What time will you be leaving?"

"At... noon. Heheh... it really starts tomorrow."

"Yeah... Colette, I meant to give this to- huh?" Lloyd frowns, noticing that the necklace's jewel had a giant crack in it. "Dang! When did that crack get there? I'm so sorry Colette, this was suppose to be your birthday present..."

"It's okay. It's really beautiful."

"I'll fix the gem and get it to you tomorrow. Noon was it? I'll meet you then to give you the fixed version."

"Heheh, thanks Lloyd. It means a lot to me."

As the sky darkens into a deep, dark blue, Lloyd sees his friends off.

Now to fix that necklace...

...

...

...

Waking up, Lloyd realizes that he fell asleep sometime after he finished fixing the necklace. Stretching, it was about a few hours before noon. At least he'd be able to join Colette on her journey! Feeling pumped, Lloyd goes to his closet and packs a lot of clothes since he can. He doesn't have to carry a bag, so why not?

Heading downstairs, he notices that his dad is standing near his mom's grave. He goes outside to speak to him to apologize for his outburst yesterday.

"Uh, hey dad. I-"

"I know. Yur planning t' go on the journey, right? You'll need these."

The dwarf hands a bundle of supplies, a map, and above else, a keycrest.

"Dad-!"

"Dwarven Vow # 2, never abandon someone in need. No need to thank me Lloyd."

The two grin, but a sudden squawking noise catches their attention.

"Lloyd - what are you doing here? Colette and the others left hours ago!"

"What?"

"Lloyd, hurry to the village."

"Right!"

The two boys dart off and hop onto Noishe, who offers them a ride.

"Hey Genis, want me to carry your pack?"

"Huh? It's a bit much..."

"It's alright. I can put it away."

"...uh. Okay."

Genis' bag then disappears with a glow as Lloyd puts it away into his inventory.

"...I'm not going to ask how you did that."

"Okay - whatever floats your boat."

As they reach the outskirts of the village, they dismount Noishe, then run in to check the school. As they come closer, Lloyd sees the memory circle again.

"Oh, right right... never trust yourself and... when in doubt... SAVE!"

"LLOYD - CAN YOU STOP THAT? WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!"

"Geez, sorry. Let me save first. If you were me, you'd be save paranoid too- ah damn, I admitted I'm paranoid. Stupid tree... stupid memory circle... stupid game..."

"Lloyd - never mind. I seriously need Raine to check on you... I think she hit you on the head a bit too much..."

"Hey- I'm not crazy!"

"Never said you were."

"You implied it."

"Never mind. Let's go!"

They soon entered Colette's house to find, yes, they weren't there. Frank gave Lloyd a letter that sounded more like a will to Lloyd then there was a giant explosion.

"W-what was that?"

Outside the house was hell. Embers rose to the sky as the houses and shops were engulfed in sputter flames, black smoke rising to block out the blue sky. Screams sounded throughout the village.

Genis and Lloyd looked at one another.

"You don't think..."

"We have to get to the town square!"

Making a dash for their destination, Lloyd felt himself pale as a group of desians came into view.

"I am Lord Forcystus, desian half elf of the Iselia Human Ranch! Now tell me, where is Lloyd Irving?"

"Lloyd?"

"I'm right here! What do you desians want?"

"Us? Shouldn't you know the answer to this? You attacked my men at the ranch! Besides, you have an exsphere that we need."

"You desians broke the non-aggression treaty first by attack Colette at Martel Temple!"

"What're you talking about?"

"Ignore him, the boy speaks non-sense. Now, pay the price of your sins!"

A strange, green monster stumbles into the village, promptly breaking through the gate.

"W-what is that thing?"

"Now die!"

Lloyd and Genis were defeated in an instant. The 'monster' charged at them while they were stunned and exploded. That was it.

...

...

...

"Ugh. How many times was that already? Still, that beats getting eaten alive." Lloyd sighs as he 'wakes up' in the field that reminds him of his situation. Great. Sighing, he gets to his feet and suddenly feels a chill. Weird. It's not really cold here.

Looking around, he sees a shadow looking thing in the distance. It's pretty far. It looks like... a person?

"Uh, hey! Who are you?" he calls.

Oh, how he regrets that.

The 'person' looks over to him, but its face. Its face isn't something is describable. Nor does Lloyd want to look at it anymore to think of words to describe it.

"U-uh- I'M SORRY!" He stammers as he runs to the continue text and promptly taps it, wanting to get away from whatever that thing is. It's just... creepy. And everything about it felt _wrong_.

The dual swordsman shivers at the look he got. Man, he better load quickly before it comes over to him.

...

...

...

Once more, Lloyd had to explain what would happen to Genis when the younger boy came to his house. This time, though, he wanted to confront the desians before they burned the village down.

"Oh and Genis?"

"Yeah Lloyd?"

"I hope you don't think I'm crazy, but after I die and load the file I made, you'll be able to tell. So if I start babbling about things, can you remind me what happened last?"

"Uh...yeah. If it keeps you any more sane- err, happy."

"I heard that."

"No you didn't."

"Fine then, be like that. But I'll still rely on you to listen to me."

"Sure... I'll make sure that the others don't find out that you became crazy. But that doesn't matter. You're still my best friend in the end."

"Thanks for calling me crazy..." Lloyd grumbles as they went to stop the desians.

They failed.

The desians took a different route to the town so it ended up getting burned again.

"If we can't change the future, then let's fix the present!" The brunette growls as they confront the monster again.

(A/N: I'm not going to do this fight scene since both boys do not learn any new techniques and to shorten the chapter. I'm sorry if you may have been looking forward to the fight scene. Tell me if you like those, then I'll put them in.)

While the boys fought the monster, the desians continued to terrorize the people even though Lloyd was the one they were after. As they defeated the monster, Forcystus prepared to attack the dual swordsman but, surprisingly, the monster held onto the guy.

"_GENIS... LLOYD..."_

_"_H-huh?"

_"GET AWAY..."_

_"_Who?"

_"GENIS... YOU WERE ALWAYS LIKE A GRANDSON TO ME... I'M GLAD TO HAVE MET YOU..."_

With that, the monster exploded, severely injuring Forcystus.

"GWAAAAAAAAH."

A crystal bounced onto the ground and stopped at Genis' feet.

"This... no... no... mar..ble? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

The desians retreated, but swore to continue their chase after Lloyd.

...

...

...

Lloyd sighs and turns to Genis, who is currently curled into a ball and is leaning against Noishe. The shock of seeing someone he cared about turned into a monster must've been very traumatizing to him.

"Genis... are you okay...?"

The younger boy sniffled, before giving a small nod.

"That exsphere. I think you should keep it as a memento. Dad made a keycrest for it, so I think you should use it. Marble saved our lives by using hers."

"Y-yeah... thanks Lloyd. It's my fault that we were exiled."

"No it wasn't. I chose to do what I did on my own, so don't blame yourself."

Helping the younger boy up, Lloyd looked at the land that stretched out far from home.

They were exiled, but that wouldn't stop them from being them.

"Colette... we're on our way." Lloyd hears himself murmur as the two boys and the dog head out away from home.

**- Chapter Five END -**

* * *

A/N: AMG guys - this is the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope that it was enjoyable. Sorry for all the serious parts if they seemed boring. I felt that they were necessary. The last part was a bit too serious for my own taste, but I don't think I could've made it humorous without getting Genis extremely pissed at Lloyd for being rude and disrespectful. Next chapter should lighten up and not be as serious for the most part (hopefully). I also hope that those parts weren't too boring for you guys.

Now you've seen all of the open screens that Lloyd currently has access to. The locked ones will be opened afterwards according to when they should be. Also, there's something at the tree that seriously is freaking Lloyd out. You'll find out in the future ^^

Anyway, if you have any questions or comments, I'll try to give a good response.

Thanks for reading!

Review?


	6. Chapter 6: Damn, it's Hot

**PLEASE READ!**

**OMG GUYS – Tell me how long you like the chapters to be. If you do not specify the ideal length, then the chapters will continue to grow longer and longer (that's what has been happening since chapter 1). I write according to where I want to end the chapter (like last time, it was to end with the boys getting exiled). This time though, I cut it shorter than I was originally planning. I don't want to kill your eyes… So the plot didn't really move a lot faster… I'll apologize in advance.**

Hey guys – hope last chapter was interesting for you! Honestly speaking, I noticed a ton of grammar errors in the last chapter, heck, in all of the chapters. I'll go back and fix them one day in the future…

Anyway, thanks for the reviews!

**Kim-Jong Fun: Hey there! I'm glad that you're enjoying the story! I hope it'll keep your interest.**

**Emeraldpichu: I'm glad that you found the usage of the title as a catch phrase amusing. I found myself a perfect opportunity to use it and decided 'why not?" That will be something Lloyd may say countless times later when/if he forgets to save and… you know what happens. xD**

**LovelyLorelei: The 'thing' is something you'll definitely see more of in the future. Also… Lloyd has something to say to your question (even though he knows you don't want his answer).**

"**Hey – I don't die for fun! The higher entities are doing this to me! I'm serious! Well… okay. **_**Maybe **_**I was asking to get killed when I told Colette to shoot me with the sorcerer's ring. Still, you gotta believe me! I'm **_**not **_**going crazy as Genis says. I'll definitely stay alive longer!" Lloyd says with confidence, but then realizes that he has a slim chance of staying alive seeing that the author enjoys making him die because he's not super strong yet. And because it's fun.**

**Sayla Ragnarok: I'm happy that you like the mass chaos I produce. I do have to agree with you about the Z-skit screens but, hey, who knows? Maybe I might add it in later (I'll do some consideration on how. I totally forgot about Z-skit). As for the creepy thing at the tree, you'll get to see it more often.**

Well, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Six: Damn, it's Hot

"Oh goddess – Genis, I need some waterrrrrrr!"

"What the heck Lloyd, you drank all of yours already?"

"Well, yeah. Maybe I should've packed more. It's not like I actually have to carry all of that weight anyway."

"Sometimes Lloyd, I can't help but wonder… WHY DIDN'T YOU THINK OF THAT EARLIER?"

"Hey, we could always go back to see dad, but I doubt you would want to run into any more desians! We had to hide in _trashcans _just so they wouldn't catch us! THAT was nasty."

"Eww, don't remind me of that. You tossed me in the one that had _barf_ in it! Not cool. Besides, it was YOUR idea, not mine okay? I think your craziness is getting us in messy situations, quite literally."

"Hey, I'm not crazy. If you keep telling me I am, maybe I will turn crazy."

"Okay, okay! I was just joking! I believe you, though I have my occasional doubts."

The red clad swordsman pouts. Thanks for the faith.

"Man, we barely went any where… I can still see Iselia…." The brunette murmurs, fake sobbing at the meager distance they made. Maybe they really should go and see his dad.

"And? We can't go back there, nor do I even want to go back. Stupid bastard of a mayor. Why doesn't he see that the people at the ranch are suffering? I should toast his ass and get him fired."

"Language! If the professor heard you swear, she'd blame me for it!"

"Well, it's your fault for always swearing around me when we were younger! Always saying 'damn this' or 'bastard' or 'shit' and things like that. Did you NOT notice that you swear the most?"

"Eh, good point. At least Colette doesn't swear. Imagine that. It would be WEIRD if she did…" Lloyd pretends to shudder with fear. Genis simply laughs at it and smiles in response.

"Yeah. Hard to imagine."

As the two giggled (not chortled or laugh normally, but GIGGLED), they notice a sheet of paper that is stuck onto Noishe's fur. It appears to have been glued on very well, thus they had to give the green and white dog a hair cut. The dog growls in anger since its coat was beautiful and long AND had a nice trim. Now it looked messy, fur sticking up in all directions, all which were _different_ lengths.

"What's this?" Lloyd says, opening the note and reading it out loud.

"_Dear Mr. Bright, Red Clad Player of Iselia Lloyd Irving A.,_

_How do you do? I know you but I doubt you know me too._

_I hope you like the game because it definitely is not lame._

_Sorry for the sudden note, but sometimes I can be a forgetful, silly billy goat._

_I have a wonderful little present that you certainly won't resent!_

_It's called ex-skills and I think you'll get many thrills!_

_Why don't you take a look at the guide and decide,_

_Maybe you'll like it, if not tough shit._

_Tata little red one, I'll write to you more because it's fun!_

_From the Administrator."_

"What the hell?"

"Ahahaha! What did he call you? 'Little red one?' 'Mr. Bright Red Clad Player of Iselia?'

"Shut up-"

**You have completed an achievement! Ex-skills unlocked.**

"UGH. I hate those damn golden words. And what's an administrator?"

"You're a lost case Lloyd, a lost case." The younger boy shakes his head and sighs.

"Whatever. I must say that it's weird how this guy knows me and I don't know him. How can that be?"

"He's probably been watching you."

"Uhh… weird. I don't know why anyone would want to watch me. That's actually a bit creepy."

"A bit is an understatement. But that letter was hilarious! You should read it to Raine or Kratos. Maybe they'll be able to figure out something." The elf starts snickering again at the mention of the piece of paper.

"Grrr – but why did he have to put it on Noishe's fur? I got bitten because I had to cut it out!"

"Pfttt, you didn't have to cut ALL of Noishe's fur! That was totally your fault!"

"Fine. It's my fault. Happy?"

"Yup."

"…maybe my 'craziness' is rubbing off on him."

"I have to agree with you there!"

The two boys stop and look at each other.

Then burst into laughter.

"Hey, I think I see the House of Salvation! Maybe we can get out of these stinky clothes and get a room! That would be better than sleeping outside where the desians might get us!"

"I hope they'll let us in… maybe we should alter our appearances?"

"How do you propose we do that?"

"No clue."

"Wooow."

As they get closer to the building, they see that there aren't many people around. A travelling merchant stands outside and pets a small dog and feeds it… miracle gels? DUDE – those things are SUPER rare! Why is he doing that?

"Uh, hey."

"…"

"Hello?"

"…"

"Dude petting the dog?"

"Oh? You're speaking to me, no?"

"Err, yes. Do you know if Co- the Chosen came here?"

"Let me think, and I'll get back to you in a blink!"

Lloyd and Genis exchange glances.

No. Way.

"Ah yes, the one with the white dress."

"I don't think it's a dress…"

"She has stayed then continued on her parade!"

"So she's not here."

"No sire, I am not a liar."

"Are you the 'Administrator'?"

"Who is that? A cat?"

"Never mind I asked…"

The two sit on the stone bench adjacent to the building. Now in the shade, they sigh.

"I guess they went to Triet?"

"Well, they're probably on their way there. I guess we missed them by a few hours or so."

"Darn. Well, I think we should stay here. At least we can get some good rest and restock our supply of water. I'll be sure to pack a lot into my inventory."

"Yeah. That sounds good. I wonder if there's a stream nearby. I stink."

"Hmm… we can check. We'll just gotta make sure that there's no desians. It'd be so awkward if we had to fight then right?" Right.

The two boys head out and search by the forests nearby to see if there is a stream. During their journey, Lloyd takes out the manual and flips through the pages.

"Ex-skills…. Ex-skills…"

"Gonna read up on it now?"

"Yeah. Might as well. The dude says it'll be useful or something."

"Uh. Sure. Just tell me about it after you read."

"Sure thing."

After a few more page flipping, the brunette finds the Ex-skills section.

_Ex-skills: Used to enhance battle performance. Ah heck, the Admin probably won't check this section so I'll just summarize it. Why use stuffy language eh?_

Lloyd scrunches his face up with the sudden change in writing style. So there were multiple authors?

_You're probably wondering why there's multiple people writing this thing that you most likely wouldn't even care to read. Well, the Admin's too damn lazy to write it out. Says that he ain't eloquent and shit. Man, why did I get stuck with this job? Anyway, I'm done bad mouthing my boss. Here's how the ex-skills work:_

_1. You got access to the game mechanics stuff. DUH – of course you do._

_2. Open up the ex-skills screen and you'll see what kind of ex-gems you have. Don't know what ex-gems are? Well, check it out under the ex-gems section that I didn't write._

_3. There are 5 types of ex-gems: levels 1-4 and MAX. MAX is the best obviously._

_4. Attaching them to your exsphere will give you attributes depending on which skill you use. Each ex-gem type has a range of skills they can give you. The higher the level, the better. Level 4 is the highest quality ex-gem. MAX on the other hand allows you to access all skills from each type of level. Nice right?_

_5. Certain combinations open a new technique. There's a ton of them and they vary from player to player. I'd help you if I weren't lazy._

_Good luck kid. You're gonna need it. You can only wear up to 4 ex-gems. Don't ask me why. When you change them with another one, the previous one breaks. I don't know why either._

"Okaaaaay. So what is an ex-gem…"

MANY minutes later…

"Ugh. I don't get it. Apparently ex-gems are some sort of special rock? The manual doesn't say where I can get them…"

"That sucks."

"Yeah, it does. Well… at least we found a stream."

"We pretty much back tracked to your house! What was the point of doing that? We're pretty much running straight back to the desians!"

"We should be fine. Let's hurry so we can get back to the HOS before it gets too dark."

"Sure thing…"

...

…

…

The sun began sinking in to the horizon, golden lines streaked across the sky, which is now a brilliant orange haze. Lloyd grumbles as he and Genis continue their trek back to the House of Salvation through thick brambles on the outskirt of the regular path. Twigs of all sizes snagged on his pants and, once again, the two boys found themselves dirtied due to their path of choice.

Why were they walking in the forest instead of the regular travelling path? Because desians were camping every 5 METERS around the area (a bit exaggerated, but close enough)! Damn, why couldn't they have just stayed at the ranch? Now the two boys had to be more careful on how they travelled, if not they'd be captured!

"Ugh. We're covered in grime AGAIN. Hey Lloyd, can't you put me in your invisible inventory thing? It'd be less of a strain on me and you'll be able to travel faster since we won't have to stop as often to let me rest."

"Huh. I never thought about doing that. I'm kinda worried that something bad might happen if I do that though… What if you get stuck in there or turn inanimate?"

"Well, can't you 'load' and tell me how it turns out? Wait, that reminds me, you didn't save since we left Iselia."

"Oh. Right. Umm… I have no clue where the next save point is."

"Great. Can't you make one?"

"Uhhhh… I don't know."

The younger male sighs and gives the brunette a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't check the manual?"

"Oh! I forgot I had that! But I don't know how creditable this thing really is. Some of the writing was kinda questionable, and I don't even know if there's full details on the memory circle."

"Check anyway. If you can save anywhere, then take advantage of that."

"Okay, okay!"

The two stop so Lloyd can take a look at the book, but they then notice that there's a desian camp just outside of their cover.

In a hushed voice, the dual swordsman says, "Hey Genis – there's desians here!"

"I know! They're awfully close to the forest…"

"Oh, I got an idea! Why don't we-"

"NO."

"But you didn't even hear my idea!"

"I know it'll involve us running out and fighting the desians. Then, based on how you usually think, we'd steal their clothing. Let me remind you of something before you try to make a retort to that – THERE'S DESIAN CAMPS EVERY 5 METERS (a giant exaggeration, but close enough)! They'd hear the conflict and we'd be ambushed!"

"Okay, you're right about that, but can't we get draw them to the forest and quickly finish them off?"

"You mean assassinate them in silence?"

"Yeah."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that you want to assassinate people."

"Well, how else are we going to get their armor? 'Please Mr. Desian, won't you give me your clothes?' Like that'll ever happen."

"How about you look up if you can make a memory circle so you can save before we do this?"

"Right. Give me a moment, it's going to take a while to find the section."

Moments later…

"So you were right about the part about making memory circles, but apparently there's some sort of method to make them work 100% of the time. It says that there's a random chance of the memory gem activating the memory circle. Then it says I can save or load only once before the circle disappears. Depending on how well drawn the circle is, it affects the probability of the memory gem working."

"That sucks. I guess we have to collect the memory gems then? I doubt you'd be able to draw the memory circle nicely…"

"Hey, I'm sure I won't be that bad at it!"

Lloyd leaves the game manual open on begins drawing the memory circle onto a patch of dirt. Following the pattern as close as possible, he guides his wooden sword across the ground, allowing it to break through the surface of the ground. He makes sure to stay silent since you-know-who is standing at the edge of the forest.

"Alright… here it is. Let's see… memory gem… okay. We got 8 since last time, so, uh, I think we should have around 14 or something."

"Great. I hope the flashing light won't catch their attention."

"Oh, right. Maybe I should draw one further into the forest."

They erase the beautifully drawn pattern the brunette drew and trek further into the forest until they think it's safe.

"Over here looks good. I wonder if I can draw the circle on anything with any type of material."

"Did the manual say you could do that?"

"Uhhh, I don't think so. I read through the thing and it didn't mention if you can draw it on anything. So technically… I could draw memory circles on my body and activate them. That way, I"d be able to save ANYWHERE! WOOHOO! I'M A GENIUS!"

"Well, GENIUS, you're being loud! What if the desians hear you?"

"Oh – sorry! I'll have to test out if it works later… it does glow so maybe it'd be a bad idea to do that,"

Lloyd quickly draws a new memory circle.

Taking out a few memory gems, he throws the first one onto the circle. It dissipates and the circle begins to glow.

"Yes!"

Then the glow goes away after 3 seconds.

"Damn."

"Try another one, maybe it'll work."

Lloyd throws another memory gem onto the circle. It dissipates and the circle lights up again.

"YES!"

The light dies out and it gets dark again.

"Dammit Lloyd, you're jinxing it!"

"Shucks. Okay, next time should do the trick!"

…

…

…

Many memory gems later (actually, all the memory gems they had), the circle glowed a faint whitish hue.

"Dang Lloyd, you seriously have bad luck to have failed all those times!"

"Ugh. Don't remind me of that. My luck is zero. Literally. I just checked to see if it changed for the better, which it definitely did not. I bet that administrator did that to me."

"Wow, are you serious? That's hilarious – I feel sorry for you."

"Yay. A pity party." The red clad male grumbles as he steps onto the save point. He murmurs, "When in doubt, save…"

Light flashes and Genis goes blind.

"Yowch. I think I should throw a blanket over you so that doesn't blind me. It's really eye catching and sore y'know."

"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't choose to make the thing flash. I don't even know why it does that either."

"Well, if we die, then at least you can load."

"Yup. But hopefully we don't die. I hate going to that damn tree."

"Tree?"

"I didn't tell you?"

"Nope."

"Well, there's this disgustingly beautiful place I go after I die. It has hatefully lush green grass and the air is disturbingly clean. The first time I died, I thought I went to heaven or something. Then there's this giant tree that's annoyingly amazing with stupid golden words floating in front of it. Yeah… I'll paint out a picture for you later."

"Sounds like a pleasant place. I don't get why you don't like it."

"If you were me, you'd know why I hate it. Besides, that's not the only reason why I don't like it. Recently, there's been this creepy thing near the tree." The brunette shudders at the image he got when he remembers the thing.

"Huh? Is it another 'player?'" The silver haired male says, cocking his head to the side with confusion.

"I doubt it. Didn't really look human. I swear I'm going to get nightmares about it."

"Or the tree."

"And the tree. Anyway, I didn't get a good look at it when I saw it for the first time, so I said 'who are you' to it. Man, worst decision of my life. It freaking SMILED at me and it's face – no, I won't describe it to you or show you a picture. You seriously do NOT want to know!"

"Whoa. Sucks. Then we better try to stay alive so you don't see it."

"I should save again so you won't 'forget' what I just told you. It sucks to repeat everything I explained every time I die." Lloyd sighs.

Wait, they used up all of their memory gems.

Shit.

"We ran out of memory gems. Dang, it looks like we'll have to fight more monsters."

"Ugh. Right now? It's late and we'll probably die since we're not nocturnal."

"I'll ask you what nocturnal is later. Let's go."

"Maybe I can get Colette or Kratos to teach you…. It doesn't seem that Raine's lectures are sticking at _allˆ."_

With that, the boys went monster hunting for the next 4 hours. They managed to get 9 memory gems, breaking another 34 on accident. AKA dropping/hitting it with a weapon (Lloyd's sword)/melting it (Genis using fireball on it since he didn't want to pick it out of the zombie's corpse).

The two return in the dead of night to their original 'hideout' and get another memory circle working after 4 memory gems. That time Genis threw the memory gems at the circle since his luck was around 60.

"How are we going to get the desians to come into the forest, let alone assassinate them?"

"I thought you planned that out."

"You know me – I usually let you do the planning."

"Right. Well, I figured out how to cast lightning, so I can actually hit their camp with it."

"Isn't that flashy?"

"Yeah, but at least they won't be able to pin point where the attack is coming from since the sudden light should affect their eyes."

"Oh! Then we'll go in and take them out right?"

"Yeah. But we'll have to drag them into the forest as far as possible since it's possible that the other desians will go to check out the random lightning strike."

"Okay. Hmm, actually, why don't you go and hide up in the tree? After to strike the camp, I'll take out the desians then put their armor into my inventory. This way, I can just flee and they'll be unable to track both of us. You'll be safe since they won't be able to see you in the trees and I can run at full speed!"

"Wow, I never expected you to think that up. You should do that more often and apply it more."

"Yeah yeah, thanks."

Both boys get to their positions. As soon as Genis casts lightning, Lloyd will quietly enter the camp.

Silence…

"GUAAAAAAAAH!"

"OH SH- DUDE ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?"

"Uugghhhhhh. I'm feeling toasty. Man, why do we have to wear metal? It freaking sucks when we're hit by lightning…"

"Wow. The weather forecast didn't mention a thunderstorm. I'm going to send in a complaint!"

"I know I shouldn't have taken my brother's place. I don't even _want_ to be a desian! Everyone hates us! I'm thinking about settling down somewhere far from humans _AND_ desians. Ugh."

"Oi oi, you'll get whipped if you speak like that! You're lucky you got grouped with me."

"Yeah yeah. Ugh, First aid me already! I'm still stinging from that last hit!"

"Man up a bit. You should've taught yourself first aid if you knew what you'd be getting involved in. Maybe we should both quit this job… yeah, sounds good actually."

"You do know what they do to traitors right?"

"Yeah… but it's not like I want to be here. I was recruited by force since they needed more troops and whatever."

"I didn't know that."

"Of course you didn't. I don't go around saying that I don't want to be a desian 'cuz no human would want to listen to a half-elf. Heck, they'd kill me on sight if they saw me."

"Hmph. I guess you're right. I'm glad they only put me in the laundry department even though it sucks."

"Laundry? Pffft – that's one of the _worst_ departments! Well, you're luckier than me. I was unlucky in getting the 'retrieve the humans' department. It's hard to get by since you have to take humans from their homes. They check how many humans you drag back with you to that forsaken place."

Lloyd gawks at the conversation he just heard. What the hell?

"Anyway, we're suppose to be looking for some boy dressed up in…. what did the paper say? Gaudy, bright, unfashionable red clothing? Something like that yeah?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. But that doesn't matter if we're gonna quit. If we see the boy, we let 'em go, eh? I'm planning on ditching tonight while everyone else is asleep."

"Sure thing. I gotta trash the suit though. It screams truant to me."

"Good thing the others can barely recognize us without the armor. It's heavy, hot, hard to move in, and honestly, I think it's ugly. Couldn't they have made something cooler?"

"Heck yeah! Too bad. Let's pack up and go."

Lloyd raises a brow, but decides to step in before their 'disguises' walk away.

"You two over there!"

"Wha-?"

"Over here! I need to talk to you."

"Sure thing. We got time."

"So I heard your conversation just now…"

"Shi- you're not gonna rat us out are you?"

"Nah. I just want both of your armors. I kinda need it."

"Huh? Hey, you look familiar…"

"You must be imagining things. Can I have your armor now since you're ditching?"

"Eh, sure thing. Just don't tattle on us or I'll haunt you as a ghost 'kay? Mithos, let's ditch this dump."

"Sure thing. But seriously, don't call me that. I know it's a common name and all but it's weird being called the same thing as the hero."

"Ah. Right. I forgot you hate being called that. Whatever."

**Lloyd has obtained 2 desian armor (gunman)!**

The brunette makes a face at the words that are glowing without a doubt, but isn't visible to anyone else as far as he know.

"Bye kid. Stay safe."

"Same to the both of you. Ah, wait!"

"Hmm?"

"Will the other desians be coming here?"

"Nah – they'd pass it off as a random lightning strike. Or they simply won't care. Usually the higher-ups are interested in every natural occurrence thinking it's actually magic. Well, only the grunts are out this far. No worries kiddo."

"Thanks. Uh, here, I'll give you this in exchange for the armor."

"Aww thanks kiddo! We haven't been given any gifts since we started this whole mess. Awesome animal carvings. I'll give this one to Mithos. He'll love the puppy one. We'll be heading to Izoold for now. Mithos got some business there and stuff. I'll still be there for a few months, so stop by 'kay? As for Mithos, eh, he'll be where ever. Don't get caught kid."

"Sure thing. If we do meet, what should I call you?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm Sigurd. And you're…?"

"Lloyd."

"Heh, you're the kid on the run, eh? If you ever need help, I'll keep the desians off your track 'kay?"

"Thanks Sigurd."

"Aww heck, call me Uncle Sigurd! I have a nephew that looks around your age. You kinda remind me of him."

"Sure thing. Thanks for everything."

The older ex-desian pats Lloyd on the shoulder before helping the other ex-desian in packing their things.

The swordsman then returns to the tree Genis is hiding in.

"Genis, I got the armor."

"What? That was awfully fast. Did you assassinate them at the camp or something?"

"Uh, no. They gave it to me."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah. They quit being desians."

"…"

"Yeah… well, we better ditch too."

"Okay. Give me one so we can travel without worrying if a desian will recognize us."

"Sure thing."

The two boys quickly changed into the desian uniform, although Lloyd had to quickly fix Genis' one since he's short.

"That should do it. Let's get to the House of Salvation and stay there. I doubt the desians will even check there anyway."

"Okay. We should be close anyway. Can you save again? Dang, you got me paranoid too now."

"It's pretty contagious once you know about it."

The older male draws the memory circle and ends up using the rest of their memory gem stock. Dang, he should just let Genis throw the freaking stone.

"When in doubt… SAVE!"

"Must you yell 'save' each time you do that?"

"Yes."

"Ugh. Fine, do what you want."

"I'm sleepy. Let's go already."

The two start their trek to the House of Salvation.

…

…

…

"Man, the bed was SO comfy! Dang, I need to know what they used to make it!"

"Probably what they use to make every bed? I'm pretty sure that they're made with the standard materials. There should be higher quality materials for people who have the money, thus better, softer beds. I doubt anyone in the world could afford to get them though."

"Ugh. Too bad."

"Yeah. I'm glad the priests didn't try to maim us when we arrived in desian uniform."

"Well, now we know we don't actually need them. Heck, the desians were all sleeping! Not one was awake!"

"Well, it was midnight by the time we decided to head out. Who knows, we might need them later."

"You got a point. Let's go to Triet! Hopefully Colette and the others are still there… man, I have a giant feeling in my gut that's saying that it'll be very hot!"

"Duh Lloyd, we're going to be travelling in pretty bad conditions. The sun will be hot, the sand would be burning underfoot, we'd have to be conservative with our water, then there's the thieves, poisonous snakes, scorpions, oh, and the-"

"Okay, I get it! Now I know of the many ways I _could _die in the desert. Happy?"

"Not really. Do you know how strange it is to talk to you when you step off the save point? I never know if you're the you from a minute ago or the you that died and reloaded."

"Hmm, I never considered your point of view, but I'll keep in mind to refrain from being weird. If that's even possible anymore."

"Heh, true."

The two exiles continued on their path to Triet desert, but soon found themselves taking off any excess clothing that would make them overheat.

Lloyd was down to wearing his black tank top and blue jeans, while Genis switched to a light blue tank top and dark blue shorts with black trimming on it.

"I'm being cooked alive!"

"Can you check if you can put me in your inventory?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I need someone to talk to."

"Fine."

"And I tried 10 minutes ago. Some error popped up, something about me having to do some side quest again."

"Again?"

"Oh right. I keep forgetting that I didn't tell you some things."

"Tell me on the way?"

"Yeah, but first… where's Noishe?"

"Huh? Hey, where is he? I totally forgot about him!"

"Hmm, he'll show up eventually."

The mage shrugs at Lloyd's response and they continue walking.

The desert seemed endless. No trees. No grass. Definitely no water. Barely any people (if you disregard thieves as people). The haze of heat was seriously irritating Lloyd as he ended up removing his blank tank since it absorbed too much heat.

The span of golden simply hurt the boy's eyes.

He was really starting to hate anything that is golden.

Frowning, he tries to distract himself with the MM and QM, though he fails quite miserably due to the many distractions.

"Hey Genis."

"Yeah Lloyd?"

"Can you explain magic to me? It seems pretty cool."

"I thought you weren't interested in learning about it."

"Well, I am. For now."

The elf gives the older boy a skeptical glance, then shrugs.

"It's a bit difficult to explain. Usually, I'd say to try it out since experience will help with your judgment of it, but you can't use magic."

The younger boy starts chattering about concentration and learning spell, something Lloyd didn't really get but he smiled and nodded. It always works. Well, usually.

Genis continued by explaining the weakness cycle thing as well as the advantages and disadvantages of being a mage. Before Lloyd even knew it, he found himself zoning out his friend while fiddling with his belts.

"Are you even listening?"

"Uh – yeah."

"I doubt it. " The younger boy says, shaking his head with exasperation.

"Heh – you got me th- OUCH! What the-?" The older red clad male shouts, shooting a glare at whatever just bit him.

A snake.

"Genis! Watch out! It seems some monsters are coming this way!"

"Ack! Snakes and scorpions! You gotta be careful! They're _poisonous_!"

"W-WHAT?"

"Don't tell me…"

The brunette gives the younger boy a sheepish nod, who in return gives Lloyd a panicked look.

"We got to get you to Triet! I don't have any panacea bottles and you probably don't either!"

"Y-yeah – Whoa, I see stars jumping around.."

"Ugh. Why of all times…"

The smaller boy drags Lloyd away from the snakes, softly murmuring 'lightning.'

Lloyd, meanwhile, looks at the QM status screen. Yup – definitely poisoned. His profile picture was green and the expression his face made was ridiculous – almost funny. He would've laughed if it wasn't for the fact that he's currently dying with no healing supply nearby.

_HP: 700_

_HP: 670_

_HP: 635_

"Oh gosh – my HP is going down really fast."

"HP? What's that?"

"Uh… OH I think it means 'Health Points!' Wow – how did I not figure that out earlier?"

"Quit your pondering! FYI – you're dying right now!"

"Well, other than" COUGH COUGH "feeling rather sick and dizzy, I'm fine."

"You're an idiot at times. Come on! I'm guessing that once your HP hits zero, you'll be dead."

"Good guess Genis!"

"…I better get you to Triet soon."

"Better be brisk, bro."

"Ugh – stop the alliterations. Just run faster."

"P-provoking poison! Purposefully pestering pure people! Preposterous!"

"Lloyd, letup loquacious lad! DANG IT – YOU'RE INFECTING ME TOO."

The two proceed in running faster before Lloyd dies.

_HP: 548_

_HP: 518_

_HP: 497_

_HP: 472_

_HP: 441_

"URGH-"

How long the two were running eluded both of them. The heat from the sun and the pain that throbbed in their legs and lungs prevented them from focusing on what isn't important.

…

…

…

Blurred blobs of color floats around Lloyd as he finds it harder to focus on anything. He tries to focus on his status and sees that it's already in dangerously low numbers.

_HP: 120_

_HP: 103_

_HP: 94_

_HP: 62_

_HP: 41_

_HP: 290_

_HP: 258_

_HP: 507_

"W-wha… going… on…?"

"Lloyd! Stay with me! I can't carry you! I figured you're almost at your limit… gave you…. Gels!"

Oh – so Genis was the one keeping Lloyd alive.

After many many minutes, maybe hours, of something and feeling awful, Lloyd suddenly feels what he assumes is a bottle of panacea against his lip.

"Ughhhhhhh… I feel awful."

"You don't say Lloyd."

The pretty blobs of colors became defined and now Lloyd could see they were in some stall.

"How did you carry me…. Here?"

"I didn't. Noishe did."

"Oh. Right. That makes more sense."

"How's your HP?"

"It's green now."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Nah – red is bad."

"Pfft – you're usually covered in red."

"Whatever. How long was I like this?"

"Uh… Give or take… maybe 6 hours? I ended up using up our apple gel supply."

"How did you get the ones I was holding?"

"I asked you and you gave them to me."

"Oh. Well, I'm not sure what would've been better, me dying so we don't waste supplies or me staying alive so we don't have to go through Triet desert again."

"Maybe dying. Apple gels aren't cheap."

"Thanks – at least you won't remember going through the desert if I die."

"Hahaha, true."

"Well, thanks for keeping me alive. Being poisoned sucks. I'd probably put it above getting eaten alive though."

Genis raises a brow and Lloyd gives him a dry chuckle.

"You seriously do NOT want to know. Absolutely horrible."

Gazing around, Lloyd also notices that they are now within the boundaries of Triet. Nice.

The brunette sighs as he peers out.

It isn't as hot due to the position of the sun. The sky is now is soft dark blue.

"Jeez, it'll be cold soon huh?"

"Yeah – we better head to the inn…"

The two boys make their way out the animal stall (which Noishe is currently resting in) and look around for what may look like an inn.

"It sucks not having the knowledge of where things is. Triet is a lot bigger than Iselia…"

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it."

Lloyd then notices a group of people, but it's too dark to see who they are.

Three silhouettes…

"Hey, could that be Colette and the others?" Lloyd whispers to Genis, who also stops and looks at where the older boy is pointing.

"I can't tell. It's too dark!"

"Okay… I'll call out to them!"

'Wait- what if-"

"It'll be fine. If it isn't them, then I'll apologize, yes?"

"Ugh – why don't you check first?"

"Going!"

"Hey, wait! Lloyd!" The mage hisses, but Lloyd completely ignored him.

"Colette?" Lloyd says rather loudly. His voice pierces through the darkness, which soon reaches the party of 3.

He comes closer and closer.

And closer.

The faces become more visible.

And…

It's desians.

Crap.

"Hey – who are you calling 'Colette'?" One of the desians hiss.

"Apparently you have the figure of a girl." Another snickers.

"Watch it! I'll slice off your tongue if you keep talking!"

"Then I'll get the higher ups to reduce your pay!"

"You wouldn't DARE!"

Lloyd steps back, quickly trying to exit the scene. He bumps into someone and turns to see it's Genis.

"I told you to wait!"

The two boys then see a wanted poster that is behind one of the desians, who moved out the way in his argument with another desian.

_Wanted: Lloyd Irving_

The two boys stare at the picture, which looks absolutely horrible. It appears that the drawing was a very VERY rough doodle of how Lloyd looks. The colors are generally the same but how they drew him – gosh, Lloyd felt insulted.

"Wow, never knew you were so…. Pffft…. H-h-hansome Lloyd… pffft. HAHAHAH… haha-" Genis tries to muffle his laughs as the two continue to back away from the desians.

"It's. NOT. Funny. Do I really look like that?"

"Absolutely."

"Jerk."

"Hey – you two! STOP!"

They freeze and look at one another.

"Quick Lloyd, pour water on yourself and change your hair! It's dark so they might not be able to recognize you! Especially since you're not wearing all that red!"

"S-shut up!"

The older boy quickly takes out one of the many bottles of water from his inventory and drenches himself with it (mainly his head – Lloyd was smart enough to consider how it may affect him later).

As the three figures approach, Lloyd claws at his hair and it flattens to his head. Pretty long. Almost the length of Kratos' hair. He seriously needs a haircut.

Lloyd also removes his shoes (a bright red in the daylight) and puts it into his inventory. He motions for the elf to hand him any recognizable items and messes his hair a bit to make it look different.

"What the heck was that for?"

"They might recognize you!"

"I'm not the one on the wanted posters!"

The desians finally reach the two boys after minutes (the armor must be heavy is what Lloyd concluded).

"You two – what are you doing out here?"

"Yeah – which one of you called me a girl?"

The boys look at one another.

"It was some kid that ran into the alley way. We came over to see what was going on."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! You have to believe us Mr. Desian!"

"Why should I listen to you inferior beings?"

Once again, Lloyd and Genis look at one another. They meet each other eyes and then nod.

Lloyd takes out a pouch from nowhere and gives it to the desian.

The desian opens the pouch and sees gald.

Silence.

"Move along. We'll pretend we never saw you."

…

"Wooow. Seriously?"

"I guess bribery works occasionally."

"Looks like it. Let's get a better look at the wanted poster now that they left."

The two then walk to one of the many posters that is pasted to a wall.

_Lloyd Irving._

_Description: Awfully gaudy red clothing that is absolutely ugly. Brown hair that is swept to the side in an unstylish fashion. Brown eyes that has an arrogant look. Evil grin that is always plastered to his face. He wields dual swords and hunts innocent people. He also has an exsphere on his hand._

_Anyone who sees this criminal should call the desians. If you are found guilty of aiding this criminal, you will be punished severely and may spend the rest of your inferior life in the ranch._

Lloyd scoffs.

"Gaudy? Ugly? Unstylish? How rude! I'm NOT unstylish! Let's go. THIS is very offending!" The brunette shouts. "I'll shred these things to pieces!"

Lloyd tries to grab the poster, but it's completely glued to the wall, making it impossible to tear off or even grab.

"Wbat the- why the heck did they glue it for?"

"So it remains a permanent 'artwork' of Triet?" Genis says, doing the finger quote thing when he says artwork.

"Not cool. Never mind… let's go. I'm tired, angry, and hungry."

They promptly go to find the inn, which they find 3 hours later since they were looking further into the town. The inn is positioned right by the stables. Wonderful waste of time walking around.

…

...

…

"It's hot." Lloyd says as he trudges and kicks up sand as he and Genis look for any evidence that their blond friend and companions have been to the town at all.

"What if they left already?"

"That wouldn't make sense! They'd need to restock and ask people where the freaking seal is!" Lloyd grumbles, wiping his face with his tank top that now smelled really nasty.

"Hmm, never expected you to think for once."

"Hey, I'm not stupid. I'm just slow at times."

"Okay. If you say so. Let's look around some more then."

They searched here and there, seeing many sights.

…

…

…

SIGHT ONE:

_Lloyd and Genis find themselves looking at a hole in a random building. A man is standing adjacent to it alongside other people who are chattering._

_The hole is strangely shaped like… Colette._

"_Uhh, may we ask what this is?"_

"_Ah, of course children! This, my friends, is the work of the Chosen! It's a marvelous imprint she has left for us to view! She will always be with us!"_

_The people cheer._

"_When did this happen?"_

"_Don't know."_

"_How did Colette manage to break the wall with her hair?''_

"_The world will never know Lloyd, never. It's better off not known."_

…

…

…

SIGHT TWO:

_The two boys find a strange group of females that are wandering around the town, constantly pointing at some person or thing which the boys couldn't see._

"_Kyaaa – there he is!"_

"_Oh em gee! I totally dig the purple clothing! So, awesome!"_

_The boys look at one another then shrug._

"_Ooh, look at that his hair. We totally need his autograph!"_

"_Oh, but I'm to nervous to ask him! What do we do? He's kinda gives off the aura that says 'don't touch me.'"_

_Lloyd sees a blur of purple. A person?_

"_I guess it's a person that's running away from fans?"_

"_Looks like it. Hahah, I feel sorry for the guy who's being admired. Wonder who it is."_

"_Me too, but let's not waste time looking for someone on the run. We got to find Colette, or at least where she is."_

"_Yeah, let's go."_

…

…

…

SIGHT THREE:

"_MUAHAHAHAHHA!"_

_Lloyd flinches and tugs on Genis' hair since he's not wearing his shirt thing._

"_Yowch! What's that for?"_

"_Did you hear that?"_

"_Hear what?"_

"_That maniacal laughter!"_

"_No…?"_

"_Am I imagining things?"_

"_Probably. Stop wasting our time! Time's being wasted here! What if they left already?"_

"_Okay okay! Let's check out over there!"_

_The boys fail to notice a woman clad in orange running by with an artifact in her hands._

…

…

…

"Man, they're not anywhere! Everyone we ask is saying either they're not here or that they are here!"

"Hmm, why don't we check in with the fortune teller? Maybe she can find where they went?"

"Fine."

They drag their aching feet to the tent on the OTHER SIDE of Triet to talk to this lady (or man) so they can find their friend.

…

…

…

"So you wish to have your fortune read?"

"Well, we're actually looking for the chosen."

"Oh? I may know where she is."

Lloyd jumps up and soon has both of his hands on the table, giving the fortune teller a pleading look.

"Really? Can you tell us?"

"Well… for 1000 gald."

What.

"Excuse me?"

"1000 gald."

….

"Genis, let's go."

The two boys turn away.

"W-wait! How about 500 gald?"

…

"300 gald?"

…

"100 gald! That's as low as I'm going!"

….

"Fine! 50 gald! Take it or leave it!"

"Maybe we'll leave it and ask somewhere else…."

"FINE! FINE! 10 GALD!"

"Okay!" Lloyd says with a victory grin while Genis simply shakes his head.

"So I've heard that they are going to head out to the fire seal soon."

"Okay…?"

"I've heard it from the chosen herself!"

"Wow – why don't you tell us something we _don't _know?"

"Well, her group has been here for the last many days."

"Are they still here?"

"No clue."

…

The boys leave sighing. Not much help there either.

So much for getting any more information.

"Now what?"

"I don't know. Ah, when was the last time you saved?"

"Oh right. Umm… I don't remember. Let's go! I saw a memory circle in the inn!"

After saving –

"So what should we do? Wait for them here? Go and see if they're at the seal of fire?"

"Well, what's to determine if they'll even return here after the seal of fire? Also, even if they return, how will we know?"

"Hmm… you do have a point."

Sigh.

Lloyd pulls up his item QM and checks how much of each item he has.

_Apple gels x 0_

He raises an eyebrow. Strange. The inventory QM doesn't show an item if it doesn't have anymore stock. Weird. Inconsistency much?

_Orange gels x 5_

_Life bottles x 3_

_Panacea x 10_

Lloyd frowns. Did Genis give him all those panacea? He doesn't remember…

"We need to restock. I made a list of what I have. How much stuff do you have?"

"Huh? Oh – well, I'm out of apple gels and orange gels. I have 2 life bottles and… some other stuff. Here – take a look."

"Wow – we need supplies. Let's see… we have… around 3000 gald. Dang, I was hoping I could get a better weapon. Wooden blades don't deal that much damage."

"Nothing we can do about that. Let's get the supplies and get out of here."

"Sure thing."

Minutes later… -

The boys sigh. Too much sighing.

"Well, I guess we're off to the fire seal then?"

"Yeah…"

"Maybe then we'll see-"

Lloyd's body spazzes for a few seconds before he slams into the sand.

"Lloyd!"

"Don't move unless you want to get hurt!"

Soft footsteps could be heard, but for Lloyd, everything was fading away into blackness.

"…Damn. I think the voltage was too high…"

"…What? Don't tell me he's going to die 'cuz you fried his brain…!"

"….Nooo! Lloyd! Don't you die…."

"…Lord Yuan is going to be pretty mad…"

The voices end.

…

…

…

"WHAT THE HELL?" Lloyd screams as he wakes up. Getting fried like that hurts a LOT.

"Ouch. My body is still tingling from that hit. Dang, I should pay attention more..." The dual swordsman sighs AGAIN before standing up. "Geez – it's pretty cold. Wait a moment…"

Turns around.

Dark shadowy blob is staring at him.

Oh no no no no no.

NO.

"You stay back!"

No response.

"DAMMIT I HATE THIS PLACE!"

DAMN TREE.

DAMN GOLDEN WORDS.

Lloyd runs from the shadowy creepy figure he names 'Yuan' based on what that dude that killed him said or something. He couldn't think of a name so he'll stick with this 'Yuan' for now. Besides, that 'Lord Yuan' was probably the one that wanted him kidnapped, so what is more fitting than to name that creepy thing 'Yuan'?

So Lloyd runs away from 'Yuan' and promptly trips.

Well SHIT.

He scrambles up and touches 'continue.'

"I'm outta here!" He screams, taking a final look back as he taps on the correct file (he made sure to).

The last he sees is 'Yuan' staring at a man clad in some strange clothing.

WHAT? WHO IS THAT?

"W-wai-" He tries to run but trips on his feet.

Lloyd face plants into the ground and gets a mouthful of sand.

He glances up and sees Genis giving him an incredulous stare.

"Gross?"

**- Chapter Six END –**

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you read my note at the very beginning of the chapter. Anyway, did you like it? I threw out some hints for what may be showing up later in the fic (I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out).

Also…. How did you like the admin? If you guys like him speaking to Lloyd, I can include it more often!

Review?

(I'll comment back and ask a question if you have one. I'll see if I can answer it without putting anything that will be too much of a spoiler.)


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